Changing Destiny: Lila's Journey!
by LyokoWarrior1994
Summary: Lila Belpois is not your average girl. She is the future daughter of Jeremy Belpois and Aelita Schaeffer. Lila and the rest of the human race, have experienced a not so happy life living under the control of Xana. Jeremy enlists Lila to change a mistake that was made in the past. However unknown to Lila, Jeremy has another plan. To send his daughter back to his early days of Kadic.
1. Prologue: A New Journey Begins!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko. All copy righting goes to Moonscoop.**

This chapter was written by me and edited by AeroJester203

Author's note: Chapter one and onward will be in Lila's First POV. Also I will not be accepting any OCS in this story.

Enjoy!

Changing destiny: Lila's Journey!

 _Prologue: A New Journey Begins!_

 _Once upon a time, many years ago…_

 _A young blonde and bespectacled eighth grader chose curiosity over the safety of the world. He looked up to the ominous tower-like machine before him and gulped to prepare himself._

 _"I hope I'm not going to regret this…" the boy muttered. His hands shook and sweat beaded on his forehead as he stared at a handle on the front of the machine. He wiped the perspiration away with his sleeve and mustered up his courage._

 _"Okay now!" the boy exclaimed as he reached forward and flipped the switch before he lost his nerve. The machine whirred and seemed to come to life, bright light shining through the circuitry as the boy screamed. He stopped screaming once the light disappeared, the machine quiet except for a hum that seemed to symbolize its activation. That was the first day he had turned on the supercomputer… it started many great things for him._

 _Many years later in the year 2019, the boy was now a man and married the one he loved since his days at Kadic Academy. Jeremy Belpois and Aelita Schaeffer married each other at a young age. Jeremy was 22 at the time and Aelita was just a few months older than Jeremy. They have been married for two years now, it is the year 2019 and Aelita had become sick due to an unknown illness. Jeremy has been taking care of her with a round of nurses that at their home. One day in November of 2019, he decided to return to the supercomputer in the abandoned factory. Once there he stared at the device._

 _He wasn't scared to face the supercomputer another time. In fact, he showed no hesitation when he turned the supercomputer on again. He knew what he had to do. He just knew the supercomputer was the key to helping his wife._

 **Present day**

 **Year 2043**

The young boy was now a middle-aged man dressed in button-down shirt and slacks with a pocket watch hanging out of the shirt pocket by a chain. Though he was only in his late forties, recently turning 48, his experiences led to him having streaks of gray mixed in with his blonde hair. He leaned on a cane as he walked to the porch outside of the building. A side effect of an accident that occurred about three years ago. The elderly man took his swinging watch into his hand and opened it, revealing a picture of his two-favorite people in the world. His daughter… blonde hair and a genius intellect like himself, only a precocious infant at the time. Brown eyes like her mother's, who is in the picture with her. He looked at his wife… her pink hair and brown eyes, her caring smile… how he missed it.

"It's all my fault," Jeremy uttered with a tremble in his voice as he recalled the events that led up to that horrible day—the day that he lost her.

His now adult daughter, Lila, approached her father dressed in her usual attire of a pink and white jacket with black pants and pink shoes.

She put a hand over his back, "It's not your fault, dad… You said it yourself: Xana became too powerful. You didn't know that starting the supercomputer would eventually cause all of this."

"I know… but I should have been smarter. Not only did I reactivate the supercomputer… I cost your mother her life. You never knew her…." Jeremy trailed off as tears began to flow down his cheeks.

His mourning was cut short as an explosion sounded from the distance. The father and daughter looked to see a building beginning to collapse in on itself as the ground trembled. They weren't overly shocked, but dismayed from the regularity.

"That's another one this week," Lila noted sadly. "Xana continues to destroy your company buildings. All of those people…" She tilted her head in silent mourning for the lives lost.

Jeremy clenched the handle of his cane in determination as he closed his watch and let it hang, turning around to walk back inside, "Then we need to fix my mistake."

"But how?" his daughter asked while following him.

"I'm going to start up the machine," the man resolutely responded. "I'll stop myself from reactivating Xana in 2019."

"But the time machine hasn't been tested yet!" Lila protested. "If you use it and something happens to you, I'll be alone…"

Jeremy sighed as he fixed his glasses, "Then… would you want to go?"

"Interacting with my family's past? Isn't that a bit, well… dangerous?"

"Look at the state of things, Lila," Jeremy replied. "The whole world is dangerous now."

Lila sighed, "That's true… And I guess I won't be totally alone. I'll see you every day and I'll get to see mom again…"

Jeremy looked at his daughter, "If you do this, if you manage to change history, this world may be different. I may be different too."

"If different means you'll be happy. Then I'm all for it," she replied with a smile.

Jeremy slightly returned the expression with a nod. He and Lila walked to the elevator of the house arm-in-arm. He pressed the red button to call it from below.

"Listen… if you manage to arrive in the appropriate time era there's one thing you must never do," the blonde warned." "You must never tell my younger self or your mother who you are. Do you understand?"

"But – then – how will you guys believe me?" Lila stammered in response.

"Easy. Your great personality of course," Jeremy smiled as the elevator arrived. Lila smiled back with a nod.

She and her father walk into down the staircase. Once they walked into the lab, Lila pressed a switch to turn on the lights. A machine stood in the middle of the room, consisting of a cushioned chair atop metal box with exposed wires running in and out and copper glass enveloping it all. Next to the chair was an old-fashioned gear shift connected to the metal, which operated as the starting mechanism. The machine was powered by one of the supercomputer's older power supplies: uranium. Lila helped her father to his chair by a computer connected to the time machine, and he began typing. She sat in the pilot chair as a seatbelt automatically fastened over her.

"While we may not have run some actual tests, I did run some computer simulations," Jeremy explained. "Lila… there are a few risks besides ending up in the wrong era…"

"I understand, dad. What are the risks?" Lila asked, determined to continue regardless.

"One risk that is guaranteed is um… age reversion and um age increase…."

Lila's eyes widened, "Huh?!"

Jeremy cleared his throat, "Basically with this time machine, if you make a return trip to the past you'll lose ten years of your life. If you go forward in time, you gain twenty years of your life."

"Oh…." Lila sighed after recalling what her age was, "Great… That means I'll be thirteen when I enter Kadic. I hated being thirteen. Worst year of my life." She put her hand on her chin as thought about her pre-teen years. "I was angry a lot back then if I recall."

"Yes you were," Jeremy chuckled.

"Then that means when I return to this timeline… I'll be thirty-three."

Jeremy simply nodded as his daughter looked saddened by the news. Jeremy allowed his daughter to think about what she was going to do but, seeing how she did not leave the machine he then continued,

"The other risks of time travel consists of nausea, memory displacement, temporary blindness-" Jeremy started to list, but Lila interrupted him.

"TEMPERORARY BLINDNESS?!"

"It's only temporary…"

Calming herself, his daughter focused on the most relevant question she could think of, "How long will I be blind for?"

Jeremy thought it over, "It's not a guarantee like the age reversion and age increase, but… approximately twenty-four hours."

"GREAT…" Lila grumbled. "I'd rather it be the nausea. Oh, please, just let me puke…"

The blond scientist couldn't help but chuckle at that. Jeremy looked at the computer as he started typing the date. Unbeknownst to Lila, Jeremy typed in the year and date: October 8th 2005. The day before he first started the supercomputer.

"Remind me, I'm going to the year of 2019, right?"

"That's right…" Jeremy lied as he started up the process. The sides of the machine closed with two copper glass windows. Lila turned on the holographic keyboard and activated the mic to ask a question that had just occurred to her.

"Say dad… If this works how will I convince your younger self not to turn on the supercomputer again?"

"You'll think of something."

Suddenly, Jeremy and Lila started to hear an explosion from outside of their building.

"Oh no… Xana!" the latter realized. "Dad, let me out! I'll get the weapons!"

Jeremy simply smiled as he typed on the keyboard. From the computer, he typed in a command and the gear shift pulled down by itself. Lila's eyes widened in surprise at that function and realized what her father was planning. She unbuckled her seatbelt and lunged out of the chair to the glass, slamming her fists on it as he pressed the last key that would send her along.

"Dad, you can't! Daddy, please, no!" Lila begged as the time machine started to hover.

Jeremy's smile didn't falter as crashes and explosions sounded from the elevator shaft. He simply watched the hovering machine before saying what he knew would be his last words.

"I love you."

The machine whirred as Lila began to cry, "Dad! Please I –"

She was cut off as the time machine disappeared in a flash of light. Jeremy sighed in relief as he took off his glasses, leaning back in his chair to wait for the inevitable. He opened his pocket watch to look at his daughter and Aelita one last time. An explosion dented the floor above and a spherical device with the symbol of Xana made its way in through the gap.

"Jeremy Belpois. You have committed treason," it announced in a digital monotone as the dot in the center of the symbol began glowing red. "Your punishment is death."

Jeremy paid his messenger and executioner no mind, choosing to continue looking at his most prized possession.

"I'll see you soon, princess."

 **With Lila**

Lila screamed as the machine careened throughout the vortex, a deep dark place. She continued to fly in the machine for quite a while and she started to notice her body getting smaller.

"This is gonna suck… Dad… you'd better be alive! Don't die on me, old man!"

This story will continue in

A new beginning: XANA Awakens Part 1

Please R&R

P.S. Happy Halloween!

Author's Note: Sorry about the reupload and lost details! As well as the changes! Fixed errors such as Aelita and Lila having green eyes. They have brown eyes. Original chapter showed an elevator in the lab when instead it's a staircase. Doors entering the lab were cut out too from the chapter.


	2. A new beginning: Xana Awakens Part 1

**This chapter was written by me and edited by AeroJester203. Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko. All copyrighting goes to MoonScoop. I also do not own Mary, she was recently created by AeroJester203. Mary is a new character will only be accepted for Lila's journey.**

 **A few author's notes before we begin: I had made a mistake with the information of dates in the Prologue. Jeremy originally started the supercomputer, a few weeks before October 9** **th** **. The 9** **th** **is when Jeremy is talking in his video diary, in the episode. Lila still arrives on the 8** **th** **same as always. As I have mentioned, the story will mainly stick with Lila's POV. But there is a new OC in this story you will meet, who is going to help Lila on her journey. I may or may not use her POV, it'll depend on the episode. I'll make references to Code Lyoko Evolution from time to time in this story, and that is because this story may eventually lead to Code Lyoko Evolution. This story will be written in the present tense. That's it for the notes!**

 **Please Enjoy!**

A new beginning: Xana Awakens Part 1

 **In dream state**

 _I am about six years old when I see Xana striking down one of my favorite places in the world on TV. It's a restaurant that my dad and I often visit. My tiny brown eyes widen at the destruction Xana causes before my dad turns off the television to spare me the sight._

 _"It's started…" he utters. "Lila, I'm so sorry…"_

 _"Daddy, why is that thing hurting people?"_

 _"It's because I made a mistake. But in time I'll fix it. I'll make sure Xana never hurts anyone ever again."_

 _"Xa-na?" I repeat in confusion of the name. My dad nods._

 _"Xana. It's like a virus, like a thing that makes someone sick. Except this virus is digital. It's technology that's evil_."

 **End dream state**

I wake up with a gasp, still strapped inside the time machine, which appears to have taken a beating during the trip. The doors were ripped off as they are no longer attached on the time machine, most likely falling through the void of space-time. The rest of the machine is broken and half-buried in the dirt of some of the forested area. I can see them and make a mental note to myself to get rid of them as soon as possible. The glass cracked in several places and the smell of something burnt coming from below me. The burnt smell is most likely coming from the overloaded electrical components in the metal box below the chair. The machine itself is in not on fire. It's a good thing my dad had made it triple reinforced and fire retardant, otherwise, the condition of the time machine would be worse. My journey could've ended before it began and probably with a shard to the neck. I notice several digital screens still flicker, even with the damage done to them. One that isn't severely cracked displayed the date and time, making my eyes widen in shock.

"October 8th, 2005?!" I exclaim as I shoot forward as far as the restraints allow to get a closer look. But the move made me groan in pain as a few bones throbbed from the tension of the belts, forcing me back into the chair. _That's probably going to need some medical attention._

I nurse my injuries while trying to think over my current predicament. _Dad… what did you do? You sent me back in time a few weeks after you first ever started the supercomputer? Why? Is there something you want me to change in this timeline? If there is, then what?_

I unfasten the restraints before slowly getting up from the chair again. There's a compartment near the top, I press the button and with a hiss, all of the metal supports meet opens up. This was another function of the machine I wasn't familiar with. I look inside and see a briefcase on the inside.

Taking it out, I pop it open to look inside and see dad's laptop along with my wallet, a few extra changes of clothes, an ID card with an old picture of me when I was thirteen and a fake birth date printed on it, a retro cell phone with a charger, and a white sphere with a blue button on it.

 _You never meant for me to come back to 2019 at all, did you, dad?_ I think as if he can hear me. _You knew that this wasn't going to be a quick trip to stop Xana's return. What are you trying to tell me?_

Closing the briefcase and setting it down on the ground, I then press the button to the compartment. It closes. I get out and then I press a red button under a metal case on one of the metal supports. The time machine shrinks down, folding in on itself and compressing until it turns into a tiny treasure chest figurine made of copper, but still appearing cracked in some places where the glass shows. A chain is connected to the back to let it be worn as a necklace.

 _I didn't think that would actually work…. I shouldn't have doubted him. All of the times he told me he would try and build a shrink ray, he managed to put one into the time machine itself. Please, dad… I hope you're okay._

I pick up the time machine necklace and put it around my neck before hiding the necklace underneath my shirt. At that point, I notice that it, along with the rest of my clothes, miraculously shrunk when my aged decreased. Good thing too, since that could've been both suspicious and embarrassing.

Scanning over my outfit, I can tell that there are a few tears in my jacket and my shirt. Not only that, I have a few bruises from the crash and my pants are ripped at the knees. My shoes are in by far the worst condition, one with the top torn off at some point, revealing my sock and the other appearing to have several holes in it.

"Ugh… I look like a freak," I complain, also realizing that my voice was much softer due to my younger age. Turning to the briefcase, I decide to put my supplies to use and get changed before anything else.

 _And I'll need to forge my identification papers and get them into the system ASAP, I internally add after realizing I'll probably need to attend Kadic Academy to stick close to my parents. Being in a time before you're born would get you noticed right away with no birth certificate or social security number, even with a fake ID. On that note, where am I?_

I look around to see that I crashed in front of a fairly large three-story house. I take in its familiar appearance and move to the fence gate to see the word "Hermitage" on a plate over three of the bars.

"Ah, mom's old house…" I note while remembering the stories that dad had told me about her and Grandpa Schaeffer's past.

Even though I know that nobody came around here too often before dad and his friends started investigating, I still go inside for privacy to change. Looking through the clothes, I find a pink magenta leather jacket that has a small zipper on the bottom of it, so if I ever need to cover up on a cold day or when I want to, I can. There's a note attached that reads, "You would've loved this when you were thirteen the first time."

"Daaaad…" Even when he isn't around, he still manages to embarrass me.

Regardless, I do actually like it a lot, so I put it on along with a black T-shirt possessing silver stripes that were horizontal up top and on the shoulders while being vertical on the stomach, intersecting on the collar. To finish the outfit, I put on a simple pair of blue jeans along with a spare pair of shoes, simple black and white tennis.

After that, I place the ruined clothes back in the briefcase to hopefully fix them later. I can't afford to waste anything being in a foreign time. The shoes were past saving, though, so I left them behind. Nobody would question a pair of ruined shoes in the abandoned household.

Curious about the spherical device he'd included, I take it out first and press the button, causing it to blink before it floats into the air and releases a white smoke-like substance. It takes a human-shaped form before solidifying into a woman with brown hair cut short and parted to the side and brown eyes. She wears a simple black business suit and black dress pants along with black heels. Looking at her, she appears to be at least five feet and seven inches in height.

The woman blinks before turning her attention to me, "Greetings. I am Mary Smith, a polymorphic spectre created by your father to assume the role of your guardian for the purposes of enrolling you and interacting with Kadic Academy as the need arises. My story is that I am a single mother that had you out of marriage, and thus do not like talking about the circumstances surrounding your parentage. As a digital spectre, I am of course capable of interfacing with both the physical world and electrical devices. With my state-of-the-art antivirus program, this should also allow me to expel Xana from machinery or singular organisms without being corrupted."

"Whoa," I utter. "Dad must've been planning to send me back for a long time."

"Approximately 137 days from my first cached memory," Mary answers.

"Thank you," I reply flatly. "I'll get us registered into the system."

Taking out my wallet, ID and dad's laptop, I immediately get to work on forging mine and my "parent's" identities and hacking a few of the necessary sites to get us established.

"I've got to get to Kadic," I say to myself as I also begin working to apply as a transfer student, forging a false record of attending a school from America. I made sure to only put in average grades, B's and C's with a single A- in mathematics. And, luckily, dad's computer had his old voice modulator program, with Mary's information registered, so I could pose as my own holographic guardian over the phone if need be.

 **Kadic's Courtyard**

I finally reach Kadic, letting Mary lead the way for appearance's sake, and stare at the almost ghost-like school. It's ghost-like because for me these people in my timeline… they're gone. To see them just going about their business… For some reason, my heart starts to beat faster as I begin breathing heavily. The students start to notice us as they murmur to their friends. My brown eyes look around rapidly as everything begins to go white. I feel a shoulder beneath me as I fall towards the ground. Students and a few teachers start running over to me.

Before my mind goes completely blank, I hear Mary say, "Lila, deep breaths!"

I black out a moment later.

I'm not sure how much time passes. I keep going in and out of consciousness as Mary and a few teachers bring me over to the infirmary. I hear their voices as they discuss what happened, the spectre apparently concocting some story about anxiety attacks that hadn't flared up in years.

 **In Miss Yolanda's nurse's office**

Eventually, I fully wake up in a bed, seeing a tall blonde woman with a white coat with shortly cut hair, a purple buttoned shirt, and a blue skirt. Mary stands nearby, perfectly playing the role of a concerned mother.

"You're awake. Thank goodness, we were worried," the woman tells me. "My name is Yolanda. I'm the nurse here at Kadic Academy."

I sigh as Mary helps me sit up, "Thank you… Wish I could've made a better first impression. We were hoping to get me enrolled here in Kadic Academy."

"Huh? That's a surprise. Not the first thing I would expect you to ask. What's your name?"

"Lila Smith," I smoothly reply, going with the last name that Mary had.

"Well, Lila. I'll talk to Mr. Delmas, he's our school principal."

Mary inclines her head while still supporting me "Thank you."

 **October 9th**

It didn't take long for us, to enroll me into Kadic. Principal Delmas was more than happy enough to accept me in light of my records, and Mary informed me after the fact that she would find enough money to cover the tuition as long as necessary. I was a little nervous about how she would go about that but decided that it was all to save the world.

I was given a room of my own along with a full schedule of classes… several that include my father, according to the class listings I looked up after cracking the school's firewall. Mary took me on a shopping spree for a few extra clothes, the appropriate materials I would need for my classes. The latter would allow her to contact me or lie in wait directly inside it as more discreet protection than her usual device.

A gym teacher, Jim, helped set my room up. After he left, Mary reassumed her spectre form before slipping into one of the wall sockets, leaving her container behind unlike last time where she carried it inside her. She decided to familiarize herself with the layout of the academy and town beyond via the electrical network. Her old container was now hidden in the far back of a drawer, behind some of my school supplies. I decide to take my father's laptop out. I power it on, and it loads. I continue to establish Lila Smith's profile, on every website that I think, would be searched. Yesterday, when I did this I only started her profile. But, now I'm fully going to implement Lila Smith, creating herself, and therefore myself. It takes a few hours when I finally finish.

Mary had gotten back later that night and had been hiding in my phone since then.

I put my time machine necklace under my shirt, and zip up my pink magenta leather jacket a bit, and shoulder my new backpack as I get ready to leave for class. While I want to take my copy of my father's laptop, with me, I feel it would be suspicious if I have the same kind as him. Dad never bought a new one; he simply upgraded the hardware and software himself.

Taking a deep breath to psyche myself up, I head out.

 _Let's do this!_ I think.

 **Mrs. Hertz's classroom**

I walk into my first class, as a teacher with gray and frizzy hair. I notice her glasses and lab coat. she writes her name on the door. The name she writes on the blackboard is Suzanne Hertz. She wears a red t-shirt, along with black pants. My eyes turn to see the younger version of my father. I stare at him, noting his blonde hair unmarked by gray hairs from stress and lively, if reserved, brown eyes. He wears a blue turtleneck sweater, glasses, brown pants, and shoes. I walk up to him, nervous as I try to speak to him.

"Um… hi." I clear my throat to try speaking clearer, "Is that seat taken next to you?"

My father looks at me, seeming surprised by that question.

Soon, he nods politely, "Not at all. You can sit here if you would like to."

"Thank you," I nod back as I pull the chair out and sit on it. "I'm Lila Smith. May I ask what your name is?"

"Jeremy Belpois."

"Nice to meet you, Jeremy Belpois," I greet with a smile.

Jeremy smiles.

"Class settle down, please. Let's begin our first lesson. I'll start by introducing myself, my name is Suzanne Hertz," Mrs. Hertz says.

 **Afterwards**

The bells ring, signaling class's end. Jeremy left to where I assume would be the factory, so I decide to go to the vending machines to spy on Uncle Ulrich, Uncle Odd, and Aunt Yumi. I casually lean on one of the arches supports nearby, acting casual as I see Ulrich and Odd heading there for a drink. I just watch them out of the corner of my eye for a while and listen as Odd laughs at a few of his own jokes, trying and failing to make Ulrich laugh. Yumi finally appears, walking to the vending machines. She puts her money in and gets her cup of coffee a moment later, walking past Ulrich and Odd with it instead of stopping to talk.

 _But I thought… They're supposed to meet, right? Unless that happens later… Yeah, I think it does from what I remember my dad telling me…_ I think.

Just as I think about my father, Jeremy appears in my sight. He walks to the vending machine, rubbing his neck while looking dismayed about something.

 **Flashback**

 _"I remember this one time… I got the most painful shock I had ever received," my father chuckles. "At least from a vending machine," he adds._

 _"What happened, daddy?"_

 _"The supercomputer was activated only for a few weeks," he explains. "But that's when Xana started to become active. I didn't know at the time, all I wanted was to get a drink that I liked from the vending machine. I pressed number six and zap! I was electrocuted! I wish I could have pressed number seven. That number supposedly gave you good luck."_

 _"Really?" I ask as I couldn't help giggle._

 _My father smiles back, "Really."_

 **End of flashback**

I shoulder my bag and whisper, "Mary, get ready to expel Xana from the drink machine, discreetly." I push off the wall and move to intercept my father.

"Jeremy! Wait up!" I call. He looks at me as he stops walking. I run over to him, catching my breath since my teenage body wasn't as trained as my adult one.

"You okay Lila?" he asks in a confused tone as Ulrich looks at me curiously for a moment before turning away again.

Standing up straight again, I ask, "Can I pay for your drink?"

"Huh? How did you know I was going to get a drink?"

"Well, you were headed in the direction of one of the vending machines. I just assumed was all."

"That's true," Jeremy grants. "You don't have to pay for it."

"Please, I don't mind. You're the first friend I made here. It's the least I can do," I reason.

"If you insist," Jeremy replies as he and I walk one of the vending machines. I look for the number six which I see glowing with the eye of Xana. I put some money into the vending machine while Mary's white spectre form oozes in a trickle from the phone in my jacket pocket to the machine in front of me.

"Which one do you want?" I ask to stall for time.

"Oh, I was going to get number six," he replies.

"How about number seven? It's a lucky number after all," I say.

"Sure," he says.

Checking the panel again to see Xana's symbol gone, and not active in any other numbers, I press the button. Mary slips back into my phone in a thin wisp while Jeremy's attention is on the juice coming down.

 _Thanks, Mary,_ I think as Jeremy takes the drink out.

I gasp. A twinge seems to ring through my mind, making all three of the boys turn to me in surprise.

Darkness swirls around the memory I have of my dad telling me when he was electrocuted. Our voices become distant as the memory itself vanishes.

"Whoa, Smith, are you okay?" Ulrich asks with concern.

I breathe in and out, "I'm– I'm fine. Just remembered that I should get started on studying. I'm not the best at school stuff."

"Oh, a fellow academic struggler?" Odd asks playfully. "Stick with me and I'll show you how to lighten the stresses of school life."

"Don't believe him," Ulrich recommends. "I haven't known him long, but he hasn't picked up a book the whole day."

"Right," I chuckle while Odd huffs at his roommate. "Well, I'd better get going."

"Thanks again for the drink, Lila," Jeremy says in farewell.

 **Later on that night**

I pace around my room feeling like I'm going nuts.

 _Why would I suddenly forget something that I KNOW happened? It doesn't make sense! Am I forgetting something important?_ I think.

I take out my phone, "Mary, my father mentioned some risks of time travel, but I thought he meant the trip itself. Is there anything I'm missing?"

The spectre's voice comes out of the phone's speaker as the screen lights up,"I believe what you have suffered is memory displacement. You prevented your father from being shocked, thus history changed, and the relevant memories disappeared."

"Wait…" I think it over, "Then if something happens to either of my parents…?"

"It stands to reason that your existence, as well as mine, would be jeopardized," Mary finishes. "It could be instantaneous, like the memory, or over time. There's no safe way to test—only hypotheses."

My mind reels at that prospect, making me sit down on the bed. I decide to take a walk to clear my head and focus on making sure nothing happens to Jeremy or Aelita this time.

Locking my door behind me, I walk up to the boy's floor of the dormitory and see Ulrich walking towards his room with a bit of sweat on him. From what I knew of him, he must've gotten back from martial arts practice recently.

Suddenly we hear screaming, and my eyes widen as I recognize Jeremy's voice. I run for my father's room as Ulrich does the same. He turns the knob and barges the door open, revealing Jeremy getting shocked by two robots. One is holding down his legs while the other is on his head.

"Hang on!" Ulrich exclaims as we run over to help Jeremy. He pries the robot on Jeremy's head as I kick the other one from his legs, knowing from experience in the future that grabbing them was asking for a contact shock. Ulrich screams as he's zapped by the machine before he uses his free hand to karate chop it off. I stomp on the robot as it tries to get back up from where I knocked it down and the two robots remain still after that.

"Aren't they a bit aggressive?" Ulrich asks panting, "Next time you should dial down their settings."

Jeremy picks up his chair that had fallen during the scuffle, "It wasn't me... I didn't program them to do that."

"What do you mean?" I ask, even though I already know.

"Forget it... it was nothing," Jeremy replies.

"Nothing? What do you mean nothing? If you didn't program them to attack you, then what did?"

"It's crazy..." Jeremy trails off.

"Tell us Jeremy, we can help," I offer.

"I agree with Smith. We should be here to help you, just in case," Ulrich says.

"Well..." Jeremy rubs the back of his head.

Ulrich stubbornly plants himself on the chair as I sit on Jeremy's bed.

"I'm not leaving this room until you tell me what's going on."

"Me neither," I resolutely add. "You were just attacked, Jeremy. I'm not leaving a friend in danger."

Jeremy gives it some thought as Ulrich begins spinning in Jeremy's chair. He stops the brunet from doing so before speaking.

"Alright, besides I've got more than I can handle. Just tell me something..." he trails off as he walks to the door and closes it.

"Can you keep a secret?"

"I can for sure," I reply honestly since I'm keeping several secrets already.

"I'm great at keeping secrets!"

Jeremy and Ulrich look at me in a perplexed way, and I smile, "What? I am, that's all."

They shrug as Ulrich simply nods when my father turns to him.

 **On the bridge**

Jeremy told us everything—about the supercomputer and the factory. He even showed us a shortcut there.

 _In my timeline, this bridge doesn't even exist anymore…_ I think.

 _"_ Great shortcut," Ulrich compliments.

I giggle in agreement, "It sure is."

"And there's even one back on campus," Jeremy adds.

We head inside the factory, and Jeremy takes hold of a rope extending to the bottom floor. He slides down with me close behind him. But after a moment with no other sound of coming down the rope, we look up to see Ulrich still milling around up top.

"Everything okay?" I ask.

Jeremy pushes up his glasses in curiosity, "You're not afraid of heights are you?"

"Of - course not..." Ulrich hesitantly replies as he closes his eyes and takes hold of the rope. He slides down to the bottom and let's go with a breath of relief. We move to the elevator and step inside, Jeremy pressing a button as the elevator's doors close. The elevator goes down and we soon reach the lab.

 **Inside the lab**

Jeremy shows us the mainframe of the supercomputer, but Ulrich is in disbelief.

"So that's the ultra mega computer you rebooted?" he asks.

"Yes. Your partially right, but it's really a supercomputer and it's extremely powerful," Jeremy answers.

"When I rebooted its system, I learned that it runs a virtual world. Apparently, it's called Lyoko."

Ulrich starts backing away as if the blond was crazy, "You know what, Belpois? I think your little buddies from the attack earlier melted your brain. This thing is just the main frame for the factory."

Jeremy enters a few key commands as an elf-like girl with pink hair appears. My eyes widen in shock at seeing my mother so young, and for the very first time outside of pictures and foggy infant memories.

"Mo-" I start to say but catch myself. "More than likely, Ulrich, it looks like he's telling the truth."

"Exactly," Jeremy nods. He sits on the edge of the holosphere display.

"That's Maya. She lives on Lyoko, and I'm not sure why she's there."

"Now you're messing with me," Ulrich says. "Come on, you programmed her didn't you?"

" _He didn't. When Jeremy rebooted the supercomputer, I woke up without knowing who I am. For some reason, I have no memories,"_ "Maya" responds.

"Maya has been hiding in a virtual tower of sorts," Jeremy explains. "The second she leaves, monsters attack her. You guys, this is a discovery of a lifetime!"

Ulrich walks over to the chair and sits on it, "Okay, maybe this is a great discovery. Is - is there any chance, this is just some kind of video game?" he asks turning the chair.

"Well... then it's a dangerous video game," Jeremy replies. "I only programmed my robots to fetch a ball! But for some reason, they attacked me and had the same type of symbol, the monsters have on Lyoko."

"Basically, whatever wants to kill Maya on Lyoko, is trying to kill you here as well?" Ulrich asks.

"That's what it looks like."

"Keeps getting more and more interesting," the brunet says sarcastically. "This really seems dangerous... we should just alert the proper authorities and have them shut down the supercomputer."

"Okay," Jeremy replies while staring at the ground dismayed. From the screen, I can tell my mother looks upset as well. "But first I want to help Maya understand why she's here, and maybe even materialize her right here on Earth if I'm correct." My mother's eyes start to light up with a little hope.

"No way! Materialization is impossible, and straight out of a science fiction movie. You really think you can do it?"

"In time, I really think I can," my father says.

I speak up to try encouraging him, "I think you'll be able to do it."

"Thanks, Lila," Jeremy smiles.

 **In the scanner room**

Ulrich was still in disbelief, so Jeremy decides to take us down to the next floor. Once we arrive, we see three cylindrical objects in the room.

I think those are the scanners my father told me about when I was young…

"What is all of this?" Ulrich asks looking around the room.

"They're called scanners. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the program to bring Maya here to Earth. What I did find, was a program that can send you to Lyoko. See, what happens is the supercomputer scans your body, inside these scanners," Jeremy explains. He steps inside a scanner, "the next step would be to break down the cells in your body, and reform them into the digital world."

Ulrich's furrows his brow in confusion, "Translation?"

"So, basically step inside to the scanners. And, you're virtualized to Lyoko," I explain in less complicated words.

Ulrich walks up to the scanner, knocking on it with a finger as if to test its reliability in existing. "Jeremy... these things can't exist," he finally determines.

Jeremy raises an eyebrow, "You still can't believe me?"

"I'd like to, but how do we prove it?" he asks.

Jeremy starts to pound what to do about Ulrich's disbelief before suggesting, "Let's test it out. But first, I need a test subject. Something that isn't human,"

"A test subject?" Ulrich says with a sly smile.

"Stern… why don't I like that tone of yours?" I ask.

He simply turns around, "Nothing to worry about. I have the perfect test subject in mind."

Jeremy and I look at each other with concern about Ulrich's plan.

 **Later**

 **In the scanner room**

It had been a while, but Ulrich finally brings Jeremy's guinea pig back—his roommate's dog. Ulrich and I use the ladder to go down to the scanner room, Ulrich putting Kiwi in one of the machines.

"Think you can watch the mutt?" Ulrich asks me as he's about to climb up the ladder.

"Yeah, of course," I nod.

"Okay."

After he leaves, I smile reassuringly at Kiwi who is in the scanner, "Good doggie. Don't move, okay? Everything will be okay."

"Jeremy, everything's all set! Lila's got the mutt ready in the scanner!" Ulrich exclaims from upstairs.

I hear two drops coming from behind me and turn to see Odd.

 _My uncle's hair is_ fully _blonde… I guess he dyes it in the future to brown…_ I think.

Next to him is a girl with long black hair. She's a little tall and dressed in a pink dress, with pink heels.

 _If I'm not mistaken, I believe that's Ms. Elizabeth Delmas… My father used to tell me about how noble she became after Xana was reactivated in my timeline. But now… she just looks like someone who is trying to get someone's attention. If I remember correctly, I believe Aunt Yumi use to tell me, when I was younger, how competitive Sissi was with her over Ulrich_ , I think.

Odd seems a bit angry as he remembers me from earlier, "What are you doing here?"

"Looking after your dog," I answer. "Don't worry; he's going to be okay."

"Yeah, right," he scoffs before looking to his dog. "Hey Kiwi, come to me. Good boy." Kiwi leaves the scanner at his call.

"You know you shouldn't take another person's dog," Odd lectures.

"Yeah!" Sissi agrees. "What were you trying to do? Mummify him or something?"

I frown, "No way, I would never mummify a dog! And anyway's what's with that dress? Desperate much?" Sissi scowls and walks up to me before pushing me into the scanner. The doors close shortly afterward, Jeremy apparently not being aware that Kiwi wasn't in the scanner.

"Oh no!" Sissi exclaims from outside the metal doors. "She's going to turn into a mummy!"

I stand up as the machine whirs to life, thinking,

 _Great, I'm about to be virtualized! This isn't supposed to happen!_ I think.

A ring of light rises from the floor, and I close my eyes since it's happening one way or another. The scanner starts to spin, as I hear screaming coming from Odd and Sissi and barking coming from Kiwi. There's a gust of wind that blows my hair back and time machine necklace, a bright light engulfs me.

The scanner virtualizes me to Lyoko.

 **Lyoko's Forest Sector**

I'm virtualized on Lyoko, my sight returning only to find myself high in the air, causing me to yelp as I drop to the ground and fall flat on my butt.

 _Ouch! Well, at least it's not my real body, but it still stings,_ I think.

I stand up and look to see what I'm wearing, remembering that people on Lyoko always had the same outfit. I am dressed in a maroon dress with pink slacks and navy boots. My time machine necklace is still attached to me, but it has turned into a copper amulet for some reason. Feeling a weight on my back, I reach behind it to find a wooden staff with a curled head. On the right side of my waist, I look to see a sword attached to a belt. The sword shorter than the Katana I'd heard Ulrich used. I unsheathe the blade and find an engraving of an incantation in Latin.

 _"Uh… Lila?"_ Jeremy asks, unsure if I'm there.

"Everything is A-okay, I'm here," I respond.

Scanning around the trees, I pretend to breathe in the air knowing that I don't have real lungs here.

 _It's so beautiful here…_ I think.

"Lyoko's amazing," I say.

My brief intake of Lyoko is interrupted as I get shot from behind. I fall to the ground as I scream from the burning between my shoulders. Glancing back, I see a pair of Kankrelats scurrying across the virtual forest floor.

"Not cool, you little pests!" I growl, unsheathing my sword as I read the incantation on it. The writing on the sword reads Ignesco. I pronounce it correctly.

"Ignesco!" I chant. My amulet starts to glow before my sword ignites in flames. I run at the Kankrelats and make quick work of them, slashing twice. Each time throwing a crescent of fire at the Kankrelats, causing them to explode.

 _"Lila, be careful! You just lost twenty life points! Della Robbia and Stern are on their way to help you!"_ Jeremy informs.

The flames from my sword extinguish as I put my sword in its sheath.

 _So the sword costs me life points whenever I activate the fire incantation… good to know._

I take out my staff as I look at it. It looks like a staff that can I use to fight with as it has a sharpened blade-like end to it, only wooden. It also has a hole in the middle of the curved top. I assume I can summon my firepower in this staff as well. I look up to see Ulrich and Odd being virtualized. They're as surprised as I was and fall flat on their bottoms too.

"Ouch!" Odd complains.

"Yeah," Ulrich agrees, getting up.

He looks at himself and sees that he is in an outfit reminiscent of a samurai warrior. The colors are a mixture of yellow and brown, including a headband with the Lyoko symbol printed on it. Brown camouflage pants cover his legs with open toe sandals on his feet. He turns his back while unsheathing his katana, which reveals an Oni printed on his outfit.

Odd, on the other hand, looks like some sort of giant purple cat in human shape save for clawed paw-like hands and a tail. I notice a picture on his purple shirt that looks like Kiwi and that his hairstyle has changed. Instead of his hair going down to his shoulders, it seemed to be styled upward and back in a point with a streak of purple in the front. He also has two purple triangles printed on his forehead above his eyes.

"Wow, cool blade!" Ulrich marvels while admiring the blade.

"So uncool!" Odd complains. "Why do Lila and Ulrich get cool gear?"

 _"Not sure,"_ Jeremy replies. " _It could be that the supercomputer analyzes your thoughts, buried in your subconscious, and then it uses those thoughts to create your virtual incarnations."_

"I never even dream or think about cats! Besides I don't have any weapons, these paws are totally useless-" Odd starts to say, as he hits one paw against the other. This sends an arrowhead flying from between his middle and ring finger, nearly hitting Ulrich and me.

"Odd!" Ulrich and I exclaim while barely dodging out of the way.

Odd checks his paws again before grinning, "Sorry my bad! I guess these arrows could come in handy... never mind, forget what I said about them being useless!"

 _"I'm going to send you the tower's coordinates where Maya is. Try to reach her if you can."_

Ulrich, Odd, and I decide to start walking.

"Who's Maya?" Odd asks.

"Apparently, she's a virtual girl who lives here on Lyoko," Ulrich replies, with a slight tone of disbelief.

"Oh, you mean babes live here too?" Odd asks. I send a furious glare over to him, causing him to chuckle nervously.

Ulrich looks up in thought, "I get the impression that Belpois is in love with her."

"Really, in love with a virtual girl?" Odd chuckles. "Is he nuts or something?"

"A little bit," Ulrich replies.

 _I wish I could knock these two the ground right now for making fun of my father! But they don't know any better, and- Ugh!_ I think.

 _ **Calm yourself. They are and will become your father's friends.**_

I nearly jump at the voice, but bring myself under control noticing that Odd and Ulrich didn't seem to hear it.

 _Mary?_ I internally ask. _Is that you?_ I ask.

 _ **Yes. Since I was in your pocket at the time, it seems that we've been temporarily fused. This should allow me some influence over your avatar, but I'm not sure what yet. Perhaps I can run an analysis, but we should be careful not to reveal too much. Too drastic a change would cause inconvenient questions to arise.**_

 _That's true. All right, keep looking into what you can do,_ I reply.

I then realize we haven't heard from Jeremy for quite some time while we were walking.

"Hey, Jeremy is everything okay?" I ask while looking at the sky. "Do you still plan to send us those coordinates?"

There's no response from Jeremy, but Odd spots a tower.

"Let's try that one," he suggests.

The tower which will eventually be called a Way Tower, is in sight as it has a blueish aurora around it.

We run for the tower, but there doesn't appear to be a clear entrance at the base.

"How do we get in? Is there a-" Odd starts, but as he puts his hand on the tower. This accidentally allows him to pass through the wall, and Ulrich follows him in afterwards. Remembering my father's stories of how my mother entered the tower, I slowly approach it before phasing in as well.

 **Inside the tower**

Once I'm inside, the rings on the platform light up which, from Ulrich and Odd's expressions, confuses them as they dangle from the edge of the platform.

"How'd you manage to do that?" Ulrich asks from where he's hanging onto Odd's legs.

I shrug and bend down to help them up, "Um, wild guess."

 _ **Flawless cover,**_ Mary remarks from inside my head _ **.**_

I keep my face neutral as I internally retort, _Did my dad program you for sarcasm?_

 _ **He programmed me to watch and learn.**_

"You should drop your saber Ulrich, you're way too heavy!" Odd exclaims.

Ulrich glares, "Yeah, no way. How about I drop you instead? You like to eat a lot, maybe you're too-"

I try to grab Odd's hand, but I barely miss it as the feline warrior loses his grip on the edge of the platform. They fall screaming as I stand up and take a deep breath. I jump off the edge and fly down with them. We eventually reach another platform where we land safely before walking outside. We appear to have arrived at the Ice Sector. We scan the area, spotting nothing but ice everywhere, but I spot a tower with a red aurora around it.

 **Flashback**

 _I am around seven at the time that my father explains more about Lyoko to me._

 _"Blue towers mean the tower is deactivated. And if a tower is red, it means it's activated by Xana. He tries to use them to attack us in the real world. Your mother was the only one capable of deactivating those towers during the first four years," he tells me._

 _"That doesn't answer my question, dad," I point out. "How did mom find out her real name?"_

 _"Oh, sorry, basically after deactivating her first tower. This was in the Ice Sector," my father responds with a smile._

 **End of flashback**

 **Ice Sector**

"Where exactly are we?" Odd asks while looking around, as we are now in the ice region. "What happened to the forest?"

Ulrich turns to him, "Not sure."

"That tower looks a bit strange right?" I say while pointing to it, getting their attention. "See how it's different than the other ones we've encountered?"

"Yeah?" Ulrich and Odd ask in unison.

Keeping to my fake ignorance, I comment, "The color is different too..."

"The creatures are different here too," Odd adds. To our right, we see three Bloks approaching us. The front-most spinning before stopping, its front symbol glowing red as it starts to charge its laser.

"We should probably run for it. Right guys?" Ulrich asks.

 _ **An immediate retreat is best for right now,**_ Mary agrees.

Odd and I nod in unison before the three of us start to run away from the monsters.

The Bloks eventually catch up to us and surround us in a triangle formation. They begin to charge their lasers at us as we each face one of them.

I get my staff out, as it has Latin writing on the wooden part. It reads Exardesco. I chant my incantation.

"Exardesco!" My pronunciation is correct again, thankfully since I learned a bit of Latin in the future, and my amulet starts to glow which also powers up the amulet. Ulrich blocks one of the incoming lasers with the blade of my sword, as I use the sharp end of my staff to parry the one aimed at me. Two of the Bloks spin as the color of the symbol changes from red to blue as they charge their lasers. Once releasing the attack, Ulrich and I manage to dodge the incoming blue lasers, which coat the ground with a thicker layer of ice.

Ulrich speeds over to Odd as the third Blok fires a laser at Odd. He manages to block the laser with his Katana as the monsters start to close in on us. Odd is forced to bob and weave in order to try dodging the laser fire, but he takes a hit despite his best efforts. My amulet blinks, which I assume means my staff is ready to use since a bit of fire is contained in the middle of the curled head.

I swing my staff, throwing a Fire Bolt at one of the bloks. Unfortunately, all this does is simply knock the Blok upside down, its legs flailing in the air. The second Blok fires at me, forcing me to quickly use the sharp end of the staff to block the laser. Ulrich uses his super speed to close the distance and jump onto the Blok. He slashes his katana back and forth on its stone head but does no damage. He then jumps off of it and back to us. The other upright Blok sends another laser towards Odd as Ulrich blocks it.

"Any idea how to kill these creatures?" Ulrich asks.

"Nope," Odd replies with a shake before glancing at me, "You're good at math right? Were you keeping track of how many life points, we have left?"

"I wasn't, but –" I begin to say before I am shot twice while distracted. I fall back as my body comes apart to display a digital wireframe. Before I completely devirtualize, I see Odd getting hit by several lasers too.

 **In the scanner room**

I open my eyes, as I am now back to in the scanner, which is filled with smoke as the doors open. I cough while kneeling down on the ground, completely out of it. Odd falls out of the scanner to all floors, a moment after me as the last scanner hums and reopens.

"We're alive, that's good," Ulrich says rubbing the back of his neck.

"Alive? Well if you say so," Odd grumbles. "I think I'm about to throw up."

I'm about to say something when we suddenly heard Sissi screaming from upstairs.

"Help us! Someone please, help us!"

 **In the lab**

We get up in a hurry and rush to the ladder. We climb up and push the hatch open to see the factory's cables entrapping my father and a crying Sissi in the elevator. Kiwi barks at the terror he is seeing.

"Ulrich!" Sissi cries. One of the cables nearby is sparking with a dangerous amount of electricity.

My eyes widen,

 _If my dad dies now… I'll never be born!_ I think.

My first instinct is to call Mary, but there is no discreet way to do so. I notice part of a metal panel was torn off from the material it was attached to in the factory. Quickly grabbing it, I wrench it off and run over to the cables. I swing it to try cutting the cables, managing to begin hacking through. However, it sends an electrical jolt throughout my body, making me scream in pain and release the panel as I fall to the ground. Ulrich rushes over to me as Odd grabs the panel from the ground and completely cuts the cables with a hard swing.

"Second time is the charm! See Ulrich, aren't you glad that I stuck around?" Odd asks. The cables start to unravel.

Ulrich ignores him, he looks over me, "You okay, Lila?"

"I'm – I'm fine thanks," I stammer through.

Jeremy yelps slightly as he manages to untangle himself enough to drop from the wall the cables had been holding him against. Sissi walks over to us, still looking a bit terrified.

"About earlier… the dress is really nice actually," I lie in an effort to comfort her.

"Um… thanks. Uh good work," Sissi replies while rubbing her neck shyly. After helping Jeremy up, we walk over to the computer. Jeremy sits in his chair as he begins typing, a screen beginning to load a moment later.

"Maya are you there?" he asks.

The screen loads completely as my mother appears on the window.

" _Yes, Jeremy. How are things on your side?"_ "Maya" asks.

"We're a bit flustered..." Jeremy answers. "It can't get any worse right?"

 _Dad... I wish I could tell you that this adventure won't be easy. It's going to get worse. This is only the beginning…_ I think.

 **Later**

 **In Lila's room**

Plopping down on the bed, I stare at the ceiling while lying on my back. Grabbing my phone, I flip it open, causing the screen to light up, "Mary?"

 _"Lila, it's late. Shouldn't you be going to bed?_ " the spectre responds.

I shake my head, "Soon. Do you think you could do me a favor?"

 _"Of course,"_ she agrees. _"Anything for you."_

"Could you check if a store is open?" I request. "I'd like a diary, please. One with a lock and key, specifically."

 _"Any particular color?"_

I think it over, "Hmm... Blue with a flower on it, a white flower if you can find one."

 _"I'll be back shortly,"_ Mary informs before leaving the phone in her white spectre form. She goes into a wall socket to travel along the power lines. I wait for about half an hour before I hear a tap at the window.

Looking, I see Mary's smoke form wrapped around a blue diary, tapping the cover against the glass to get my attention. Once I unlatch and open the window, she comes in reassumes her physical form, holding the diary in her hands now.

"I was able to buy a blue diary with a lock and key," she reports with a smile. "No white flower, I'm afraid, but it is pink."

"Thanks," I reply with a nod as I accept it and find the key taped to the cover. Peeling it off and unlocking the book, I move to my desk while opening it to the first page.

Mary approaches curiously, "What are you going to do with this diary, Lila?"

"I'm going to start a diary to keep track of my memories," I answer while finding a spare pen among my school supplies. "I'll write them down from how you remember them, that way I won't truly forget them even after histories changed. And it'll help me account for the changes that happen and how it might affect the future. Can you tell me about the memory I lost?"

Mary nods, "I can. But I should warn you that during my diagnosis of your memory displacement, the specific memory will become lost to me as well shortly after," she explains. "We have approximately three hours until the original memory vanishes. You should write down the old memory and the new memory that you have experienced with your father's younger self."

"Yes, I like that. I'll be able to keep track of the changes this way," I smile.

I look over to Mary.

"I'm really glad you're here with me," I smile.

"Me too. There's something you should be made aware of. While the original memory is stored in my data banks… if we don't get the chance to write down the memory in a certain amount of time, it'll be gone completely. Do you understand?"

"I understand," I nod.

"Okay… let's begin then. I believe the memory started when you were around six years old…" Mary starts to tell me. I begin writing my original memory, keeping in mind that I will have to write down my new memories.

 _One thing is for certain... I'll have to keep this memory diary safe…_ I think.

 **And done! Please Review!**

 **LyokoWarrior1994**


	3. A new beginning: Xana Awakens Part 2

**This chapter was written by me and edited by AeroJester203! Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is owned by MoonScoop. I only own Lila, Mary is owned by AeroJester203.**

 **Author's note: There have been a few updates in the previous chapters. Nothing significant other than the recreation of the design on the time machine in the Prologue. And an added detail or two of the damaged time machine in Xana Awakens Part 1.**

 **A poll is now live to decide what Mary's power's should be on Lyoko. Or you can post your suggestion by pressing the review button. I'll take them into consideration.**

 **Please Enjoy!**

 **In dream state**

 **POV Lila's**

 _I'm around the age of eight as my father starts to explain Lyoko, Xana, and the possibilities of time travel in full. There was one day where I remember he first explained time travel to my fragile little mind._

 _"Lila, this may be difficult for you to understand, but the world won't always be in the state that it is now," my father says as he is in his lab._

 _"How do you plan on fixing Xana then?" I ask curiously._

 _"I'm going to build a time machine. If I travel back in time, and become part of the events to make a new future, then this timeline won't happen."_

 _"Um… if it won't happen, what happens to me?"_

 _"You'll grow up in a new timeline. Where there's no devastating destruction that Xana displays every day. Where… where your mother and the rest of our family may still be alive."_

 _I furrow my brow in thought and add, "And you. What will happen to you?"_

 _"Hypothetically, if I become part of the events of the new timeline there are two possibilities coinciding with two theories. According to the grandfather paradox, I disappear. My existence from this future, that Xana has destroyed, disappears. By the ontological paradox… the timeline will branch off, the old one not occurring, but I continue existing as the cause of it, technically having existed from nothing with the future gone."_

 _"In that case, I'll have to find a way of living on my own in the new timeline. There will be two Jeremy Belpois's—one from the new timeline and me. I'll most likely have a new family… and I won't be able to see you. But you wouldn't know that, because the new you will not have the memories you create in this new timeline."_

 _"Does that make any sense, Lila?" My father asks as he fixes his glasses. I stare at him blankly._

 _"No."_

 _For some reason he gives a light chuckle before going back to work on is lab desk._

 **End of dream state**

 **In Lila's room**

I shoot up from the bed. I gasp, fully aware of the dream I just had.

"Mary, are you awake?" I ask in a whisper. My phone turns on as Mary's face is on the screen.

"Spectre's never sleep," she reminds me in an equally hushed tone. "Don't you know that?"

"I just remembered something in a dream. Mary, this time travel business… it's dangerous. I'm not sure if I should continue any further."

"Please explain," Mary urges.

I nod and start to tell her the events that occurred in my dream. She nods in the screen.

" _I see… I believe I understand. Then that means our hypothesis was wrong. We're already living in the events of the new timeline your father established by sending you back. Since that's the case, even if you succeed and stop your father from turning the supercomputer back on in 2019 and travel back to the future…_ " Mary trails off.

"I won't be with my family! I'll be alone… and a new Lila will take my place. A happier Lila…"

" _Likewise, if you don't succeed there is a possibility that you can still disappear. We assumed because something would happen to your mother and father in this timeline, something would happen to this you. But that's false, when in fact something will happen to the future Lila of this new timeline. And this all started because you've already established yourself in the events of this timeline. You can't use the time machine to travel back to the first time you arrived in order to tell yourself to go back to the bad future. You need to save that trip for after you stop your father from reactivating the supercomputer for the third time in 2019. It is quite problematic indeed…_ "

"What should we do Mary?" I ask. I feel tears starting to form. Mary exits the phone in her smoke form before transforming into her physical one. She places her hand on my shoulder.

"I may not be like your father from the future. But as long as I am around, I will always be your guardian. I'll look after you, I'll fight with you. If we somehow defeat Xana, then in time… I hope to become a mother to you."

"I- I wasn't aware spectre's were capable of emotions," I stammer a little as she gently wipes away my tears.

"Xana's spectre's aren't, but I am," Mary smiles as I tentatively smile back. I happen to see the time displayed on my phone, causing my eyes to widen.

"Oh no, I'M LATE!" I yell. I get up from the bed, nearly hitting Mary from the sudden move.

"You must have overslept from writing your journal last night. According to your father's journals… I believe Ulrich, Odd and Sissi are in the cafeteria now. I'll make up some excuse as to why you were late to Principal Delmas," Mary says. I quickly change from my pink pajamas and throw on some random clothes and jump into my shoes.

"Thank you, Mary, I'll see you later!" I exclaim. I grab my bag and shoulder it while opening the door. I close it behind me and start running to the cafeteria.

 **In the cafeteria**

I open the door to the cafeteria as Sissi longingly stares at Ulrich, who is sipping something from a bowl. I walk up to them and sit down nearby, Odd arriving seconds later.

"Hey, Lila. Hey lovebirds," Odd greets, causing Ulrich to stop drinking from the bowl. He's about to take a bite out of his croissant when we both notice Odd changed his hairdo. It now stands up in a point, like his digital Avatar on Lyoko. It even has a streak of purple dye in the front of it.

"What's with the hairdo?" Ulrich asks with raising an eyebrow.

"Lyoko style! It's pretty trimming huh? Meow!" Odd exclaims like a cat as he sits down on the chair with a tray full of food.

Remembering his appearance from the future, and trying to make small talk, I ask, "Have you ever thought about dying your hair brown someday?"

"Believe it or not the blonde hair isn't my real hair color!" Odd replies happily, catching Ulrich off guard.

Sissi is in shock and shouts, "No way! You dye your hair?"

"I've been dying it blonde for a while and the color just stuck with me," Odd explains while dipping his crescent in his soup. He takes a big bite out of it, washed down with a sip of the broth, and then dips his crescent in the bowl again. He repeats this method several times and drinks a cup of his water.

"Do you always eat this much?" Ulrich asks, staring at Odd's full tray and his lack of restraint.

Odd peels off his banana's skin as he takes a bite out of it while speaking a muffled reply with his full mouth, "No – I'm – not – that – hungry today in fact." He swallows the bite and looks around. "Has anyone seen Jeremy?"

"He was up all night in his room working on Lyoko after he put the computer back together," Ulrich answers.

Odd wipes off the broth and bread crumbs that were on his face, "Man, that guy is a real Einstein."

"Who's Einstein?" Sissi asks.

I slap myself on the head as I couldn't believe she had just asked that.

"You really don't know who Albert Einstein is?"

"No. Should I?"

 _Wow, I guess the Sissi from my future really became a lot smarter after her Kadic years…_

 **Later at the bench**

Ulrich, Odd, Sissi, and I sit on the bench as Jeremy explains what he believes is the true function of the red tower.

 _I wish I could tell him that the true purpose of the red tower is to stop Xana's attack from happening. It's not to help my mother get into the real world…_ I think.

"You want us to go back to Lyoko?" Ulrich asks. "And get Maya into a red tower?"

"Like I said, I'm sure that's the only way to bring her into the real world. Pretty wild huh?" Jeremy asks.

"Pretty dangerous, you mean," Odd snorts. "We could have all been wiped out for good last night."

"Odd's right. Too bad for Maya but still, it's not like she's human," Ulrich says with a shrug.

Getting annoyed by his comment, I kick him in the shin. This causes Odd to burst out laughing when his roommate grunts and cradles his leg as Jeremy looks confused and Sissi glares at me.

I ignore her and level a look of my own at Ulrich, making sure to keep my tone low since we are still in public, "Just because she isn't human, Ulrich, doesn't mean she can't display real feelings."

"Okay, okay my mistake," Ulrich says while lowering his leg again after the pain went away.

 _I know they're unaware of the fact my mother really is human… but still, it doesn't hurt to teach Ulrich some manners,_ I think.

"Come on, guys, be cool. I'm just asking for you to go one last time," Jeremy reasons.

I smile supportively, "I'm for it, Jeremy."

"But we can't even get past the monsters. We'll probably get ourselves blown away in a heartbeat," Odd surmises.

"If only there were four of us," Ulrich muses, "But Sissi's too scared."

"What? No, I'm not!" she replies defensively. "I really do want to go to Lyoko with you guys, but after cheerleading practice is over."

Jeremy nods, "Thanks, Sissi. So here's the scoop: As soon as Maya is materialized into the real world, I'll give you my word that I'll shut down the supercomputer. Meanwhile, we've got to keep this a secret, all right?"

"Promise," Ulrich replies.

Odd holds up his hand with a smile, "I swear."

"Me too," I nod. We look over to Sissi.

"Ditto," Sissi agrees as she leans over to Ulrich. "I can't wait to see what I look like on Lyoko."

"Me too. That way I won't look like the dumbest one on Lyoko," Odd jokes, causing Sissi to glare at Odd.

She notices Ulrich starting to walk away from us, "Ulrich where are you going? Aren't you going to see my cheerleading routine?"

"No," Ulrich replies. "I've got something important to take care of."

"Hmph!" Sissi exclaims with crossed arms.

 **Later**

 **Outside**

Odd, Jeremy, and I had decided to go to the library, which was where we are heading towards now.

"It's true; at first I thought that Sissi was a real babe. But the more I get to know her the more I realize she's a, uh… how can I put this tactfully?" Odd asks.

I raise an eyebrow at him, suggesting, "An airhead?"

"A turkey?" Jeremy asks.

"Exactly."

 **In the library**

Jeremy types on his computer as I copy down some notes I missed from class at my seat next to him. Odd has his hand on his face in boredom as he works on an assignment in his notebook across from us.

"I dug up a brand-new program on the supercomputer called the return to the past. And I just figured out how to activate it!" he exclaims happily.

"That's cool Jeremy!" I reply. "So, from what it sounds like, it's kind of like time travel in a way right?"

"Not exactly. Time travel is only theoretical; it's never been proven. We do go back in time with this program, but only for a whole day," Jeremy explains. I peek at the computer as Jeremy continues to work on the return to the past program. The coding is almost exactly how I remember it, minus a few modifications that are made to the program in the near future.

"Hm?" Odd asks as he realizes we were talking. "That's great, Einstein. But can you give me a hand on my electrochemistry report?"

Jeremy continues typing as he looks over to him, "Hey, Odd, are you going to keep calling me Einstein forever?"

"Uh…" Odd trails off.

"It's a good nickname, Jeremy," I chime in. "You are pretty smart."

"True, but nowhere near smarter than Albert Einstein. I'm like a child compared to him," Jeremy defends.

Odd awkwardly clears his throat, "So… my report?"

I sigh and turn to him, "Odd, electrochemistry is a science that deals with the relationship between electricity and chemistry. Then you say that electrochemistry involves imposing polar systems composed at two extremes of electrically conducted material." Odd scrambles to keep up with my answer, writing down as much as he can in his notebook.

"That's what I was going to suggest he could say. Is electrochemistry a field you have interest in Lila?" Jeremy asks.

I shake my head, "Not really. My father taught me when I was just nine years old."

Jeremy eyes widen in surprise by that information as Odd looks over to me once he finishes writing.

"You must have had a boring childhood," Odd comments.

Shaking my head since a boring childhood would be nice compared to a future dominated by Xana, I say, "You have no idea."

"And Lila that's all I have to write down?" Odd asks.

"No," I reply as he frowns. "You've got to use examples. I can tell you a few but you need to put them in your own words." Jeremy can't help but laugh little as Odd rests his head in his hand with a groan.

Two students walk by, and we overhear their conversation.

"Did you hear about Sissi? Jim had taken her to the infirmary," the first student with glasses says.

The second one snorts, "What'd she do? Did she pull a muscle in her brain trying to add two plus two?"

"Nah, man, she got electrocuted," the student informs.

"Woah…" his friend replies as they walk away. Odd, Jeremy and I look at each other.

 **Outside the nurse's office**

We decided to head over to the wing where the nurse's office is. We open the door to see a concerned Mr. Delmas talk to Nicholas and Herb.

"You're the one that brought Elizabeth here. What happened?" Mr. Delmas asks, demanding to know the circumstances. It was no surprise that he was so concerned considering that his daughter was injured.

"She was in her room and was attacked by this electricity monster that jumped from her coat hanger," Nicholas replies.

"Would you try to be serious Poliakoff?" Mr. Delmas scolds. "You're the one who is about to get shocked in a moment."

We close the door quietly as we head down the stairs. We start running outside as we head towards the woods. Jeremy takes out his phone as he calls Ulrich.

"Ulrich? Great. Sissi just got electrocuted by some sort of giant…" Jeremy trails off trying to figure out the correct term before hearing something from Ulrich. "Huh? Yeah, how did you know?"

 _If memory serves Ulrich must be with Yumi now… which means this is when she first becomes a Lyoko Warrior!_ I think happily. We continue to run.

"All the more reason to materialize Maya, ASAP. We have to get to Lyoko and bring her to the red tower," Jeremy says and we reach the sewer grate.

"If it works we can shut the supercomputer down tonight. We'll meet you in the sewer," He then hangs up.

Odd pulls the grate off as he ushers me to go first.

"I'll be right behind you. I have to make a quick phone call to my mom to let her know I'll be late for work. She said she managed to find a job for me," I lie.

Jeremy and Odd look at me with curiosity before shrugging. Jeremy goes in first as Odd follows him in and then pulls the grate back into its spot.

I take out my phone, "Mary did you get all of that? If Xana's waking up… can't we just materialize Aelita now? I know Jeremy's materialization code! My father helped me memorize every code of that supercomputer!"

 _"No, we can't. If you materialize Aelita too early there will be drastic consequences to the timeline. We can't have that,"_ Mary explains, her face appearing on the screen.

"But –" I start to say but Mary shakes her head.

I sigh, "You're right… Ugh, being a time traveler sucks!"

I then put the phone in my pocket and pull the grate off, moving it back into place before beginning the climb down the ladder.

 **In the sewers**

I finally catch up with Odd and Jeremy and we start running into the sewers, spotting Ulrich and Yumi as they jump off the stairs from the passageway where the boiler room is. While we fall into step beside them I look at Yumi and can't believe how young she is. She has black hair and wears a black sweater that exposes a bit of her midriff, black pants, and boots to match. If I remember from what my father mentioned about her, I believe she is also Japanese.

"Hey… who's that girl?" Jeremy asks pointing over to her.

"This is Yumi. She was there when I was attacked, and she knows how to fight so I thought…" Ulrich trails off.

"Okay, okay later," Jeremy dismisses. "Right now, we have to get to the factory, let's go!"

"I'm Lila, nice to have another girl in the group," I smile as we start running again.

"Thanks. Yumi Ishiyama," Yumi replies as she waves back slightly during her jog.

 **In the lab**

After using swinging from the rope in the factory and taking the elevator, we reach the floor with the supercomputer.

"So who's this Maya?" Yumi asks.

"You're going to be meeting her in just a minute," Jeremy answers as he leaves the elevator and runs for the chair. "Go straight to the scanner room and get ready for the big plunge!"

Yumi raises an eyebrow, "Big plunge? But I don't have a bathing suit."

"Relax, you won't be needing one," Odd reassures as Jeremy sits down and begins typing on the keyboard.

The elevator closes as we head down into the scanner room. The doors open again, letting us enter the scanner room. Odd starts to explain our whole story to Yumi. She looks around, focusing on the scanners, but I can see that she doesn't believe him.

"This story of yours is pure science fiction," Yumi says.

"Except this is for real," I remind her. "Ulrich said the same thing when we told him."

"Hmm…" Yumi trails off in suspicion.

Odd steps into the middle scanner as Ulrich steps into the right one. I wait for Yumi to go into the third scanner.

 _"You guys ready? Transfer: Odd, Transfer: Ulrich,"_ Jeremy begins.

"Don't tell me you're scared," Ulrich smirks as the scanner's doors close on him.

"Wait! I'm coming too!" Yumi exclaims as she steps into her scanner.

 _"Okay. Lila you'll have to go last,"_

I nod, "Understood!"

 _"Transfer: Yumi. Scanner: Yumi, Scanner: Odd, Scanner: Ulrich. Virtualization!"_

The scanners flash, the light visible from the line between the doors before they reopen. I step into the middle scanner and it closes me in.

 _"Transfer: Lila, Scanner: Lila, Virtualization!"_

I close my eyes as the familiar bright light and gush of wind envelop me.

 **Lyoko's Ice Sector**

My vision comes back above the Ice Sector, and I manage to land perfectly on the virtual frost platform. I look to see Yumi's Lyoko form in person for the first time. Yumi's outfit is almost similar to a Japanese geisha outfit, save for short sleeves and a shorter bottom allowing for free movement, exposing red leggings along with thigh-high black boots that had bandages over the middle portion down to her ankles to fasten them to her calves. If I'm not mistaken she also has a tessen, or Japanese war fan, as a weapon.

"Wow! That Japanese outfit is pretty sharp!" Odd exclaims as he points over to Yumi. "It's not fair! I'm the only one who looks like a nitwit on Lyoko!"

Yumi looks at herself and then at her surroundings, "Uh, mind telling me where we are?"

"In a virtual world. Don't worry you'll get used to it," Ulrich reassures.

 _"Hurry!"_ Jeremy urges. _"Maya is in danger!"_

"Okay, here we go!" Odd exclaims.

Odd and Ulrich start running as Yumi's looks at them.

"This is pretty unbelievable," she says to me.

"I know but don't let it unsettle you too much. Come on let's go!" I exclaim enthusiastically as I start running. Yumi follows with me.

 _Say, Mary, I was wondering… Why can't the past Jeremy detect you or my necklace during the virtualization process?_

 _ **I assume it's simply because your father supplied me with the necessary programming to shield any foreign objects you would bring to Lyoko,**_ she replies in my head.

 _So, then it would seem he knew I'd join the team all along…_

 _ **It would appear so. I can't help but wonder if you're in a loop. You just started time traveling, but perhaps you – or another iteration of you, at least – have already visited this era before. Perhaps you failed in your mission and your father wanted to correct that mistake?**_

 _Ugh, please, let's not talk about time travel before a big battle. I'll be really confused and won't be able to concentrate on the monsters._

 _ **I understand.**_

We finally catch up to "Maya" when we see she is surrounded by Bloks.

"Jeremy!" she exclaims.

Ulrich starts running towards her as he unsheathes his katana and jumps in the air. He slashes the Blok's eye, causing it to spin and explode. Odd lands on his paws after catching up to Ulrich who continues to block lasers.

"Hi are you Maya? I'm Odd, I have to admit you are a real cutie. Jeremy's got taste," Odd says playfully as he winks at my mother. She shows nothing but a look of disgust towards Odd. While Ulrich continues blocking fire, I jump in as well. Taking out my staff, I hit Odd with the curled head of it causing him to fall to the ground.

"What was that for?!" Odd exclaims rubbing his head as if he were in real pain.

"Stopping flirting and get serious!" I order with a glare. "Or I'll devirtualize you!"

"Sorry about him, Maya," I quickly apologize before I chant in Latin.

"Exardesco! Exardesco!" I exclaim and charge up my Fre Bolts in my staff. At the same time, I grab my sword with my free hand quickly and use my sword to block the incoming lasers.

"It's okay," "Maya" nods.

Yumi looks scans herself noticing she was defenses.

"Hey, I don't have a weapon," Yumi realizes. The hilt of her fan pops out from a hidden pocket in the knot of the obi on the back of Yumi's kimono. She takes the fan and opens it revealing it to be white on the top with cherry blossom petals on the bottom, tinting the lower half pink.

"A fan, that's all?" Yumi asks as I unleash several fire bolts. The flames fly towards one of the Bloks, enveloping it in flames before it explodes once they reach the eye of Xana on the front.

Odd jumps over a few lasers, "Try throwing them; you never know."

"Hiya!" Yumi exclaims. She jumps in the air and throws the fan, the projectile glowing as it spins before slashing the two remaining Bloks in a single arc. The monsters explode and I place my weapons back in their sheaths.

"Not bad," Ulrich comments.

The fan comes back to Yumi as she places it back in the hidden pocket of her kimono.

"Yeah, I think I'll keep it," Yumi remarks with a smile before walking over to us.

 _"Nice work,"_ Jeremy compliments. _"Now bring Maya into the red tower so that we can materialize her."_

As we begin running to the tower, I think,

 _Say… Mary, my father mentioned that Sissi betrays the group correct? By doing so he never remembers this first successful mission… he was only told by the others after the return trip. Right?_

 _ **Yes, that is correct… why?**_

 _Would… would it be a big change if I get devirtualized? And I get my father scanned into the scanner at earlier than he is supposed to? That way he'll be safe… I'll even activate the return trip myself._

 _ **It's very risky… but I don't believe it would change the timeline dramatically. Your father did get himself scanned or digitalized as he called it, the next morning. Just be careful about how you proceed.**_

 _Right!_

 _"Hey, Odd. I think I've got a nice life-sized example for your electrochemistry report_ ," Jeremy says cautiously.

"Oh yeah?" Odd asks. "What's that?"

 _"A nice little electric monster. Where are you guys?"_

"We're coming up to the tower!" Ulrich informs.

 _"Hurry it up then. Things are about to start jumping over here,"_ Jeremy urges. He then warns,

" _Watch it guys! There are some monsters coming your way!"_

Several Krabs appear.

"Great, Krabs," Odd jokes while rubbing his belly. "Who's got the tartar sauce?"

One of the Krabs starts charging its laser.

"Uh-oh…" Odd trails off. I push him out of the way to take the blow instead. I fly backwards from the impact as I devirtualize.

 **Back in the scanner**

I wake up in time to see the scanner reopen as I groan in pain. But I fight the fatigue as I grab the doorway to support myself and then stagger my way towards the far wall.

 _I've got to move quickly!_ I think as I grab onto the ladder and take a deep breath before climbing up, picking up speed as the dizziness faded. Once I open the hatch to the computer room, I see the big electric ball as it shoots electricity at Jeremy.

 _"Lila just got devirtualized. Jeremy?"_ "Maya's" voice calls from the monitor. I run over to Jeremy as the electric monster envelops itself in the display above the podium. While it seems busy with that, I recover Jeremy and shoulder him up as I grab his glasses from the ground.

"Lila – what-what are you doing?" Jeremy stammers, barely able to form a sentence in his half-conscious state.

"I'm going to put you in the scanner for safety. I've got you, don't worry," I reassure him while still hiding how much I know. It would be suspicious if I happened to know that scanning someone in the scanner removes the memory loss from returning to the past.

Carrying him piggyback style, I move to the ladder as fast as I can before Xana's monster can come after us. Seeing no easy way to get both of us down in a hurry, I jump down the still open hatch, bracing myself for a harsh landing as the floor of the scanner room approaches fast.

But I feel a force surrounding me that dramatically slows me down, allowing me to land easily despite Jeremy's additional weight. I look down to see wisps of Mary's white spectre form around my legs before they retreat into my jacket pocket. She must have been responsible for saving us from hitting the ground too hard.

 _Thanks Mary_! I think, not wanting to chance Jeremy overhearing with him right over my shoulder. Rushing over to the scanner, I turn around and squat down to carefully place Jeremy in the scanner. He still looks a bit out of it from the electric shock as I put his glasses on. I move back to the ladder and climb back up. Peeking above the open hatch, I see the electric monster still interfering with the holographic sphere.

I move a few rungs down the ladder to take out my phone, the screen lighting up with Mary's presence.

"Mary, do you think you can keep this thing busy while I start scanning my father and prepare the return trip?" I ask in a whisper, not wanting to be overheard by one of Xana's monsters.

 _"Yes of course. But only for a few minutes. It's different from a spectre; it's one of Xana's first creations, more complex than simply expelling his influence from a vessel… I'm not sure if I'll be able to handle it,"_ Mary replies as she expels herself out of the phone in a stream of white smoke.

In her spectre form, she rushes over to the monster still hovering in the display. I rush from my hiding place once I hear electricity crackle and hurriedly sit in the chair to begin typing on the computer. I start the scanning process, knowing that the scanner Jeremy is in has closed. The scanner process ends, and looking at the data, he should remember his first mission now. I see on the screen, that the scanner he's in, now opens.

"Lila – uh, what's going on? Why am I in the scanner?" Jeremy asks as he apparently came to, his voice coming from the scanner room.

"You got shocked, and we've got more trouble coming. I'm protecting you," I reply as sure enough, the elevator's doors open, revealing Sissi, Mr. Delmas, and Jim.

"What is all of this about?" Jim exclaims as Xana's electric monster and Mary continue to battle. "Smith, what's going on?! Ooh, wait until I get my hands on-"

Before Jim can get too close, the electric monster sends a shock to Jim as I can see Mary's smoke-like form flying back to me during the distraction. As she returns to my pocket, I hear her whisper, "Xana fears they'll shut Lyoko, and him, down."

The electric monster starts affecting the holographic sphere again while it shocks Jim. Seeing that Jeremy's scan is complete on the monitor, I let him out of the scanner to give room for Ulrich as I notice that he, along with Yumi and Odd, were just devirtualized. But I can see that Aelita has reached the tower, and I begin to set the return to the past program. The electric monster vanishes, causing Jim to fall to the ground with a dazed groan.

"What's going on here?" Mr. Delmas asks. "What were those flashes? And the smoke—where did it go?"

Ulrich climbs up the hatch, closely followed by Jeremy.

He narrows his eyes into a glare when he figures out that Sissi blew our cover, "Sissi."

"Ulrich!" Sissi exclaims happily. " She tries to hug him with a joyous cry, but Ulrich doesn't allow it. Odd and Yumi climb up from the ladder chute soon after.

"I came here to save you Ulrich," Sissi defends herself." She then notices Yumi and glares at her,

"And what's this Chinese girl doing here, huh?"

"I am Japanese!" Yumi exclaims in an offended tone.

Jeremy turns to me since I'm still in the chair, "Any sign of Maya, Lila?"

"No, sorry, Jeremy; I'm afraid it didn't work. She didn't materialize," I reply. Mr. Delmas walks over to me while Jim gets up, rubbing his head in confusion.

"Alright, that's enough Smith. I order you to shut this thing down now and then you can explain to me exactly what this is about," Mr. Delmas demands.

Jim shook his head clear, "I think we ought to alert the authorities right away."

"Me too, Jim," Sissi agrees. "It's much too dangerous. I told you so, didn't I?"

"You're nothing but a rotten traitor," Ulrich replies angrily.

Sissi points over to him and Yumi, "No more than you are, Ulrich darling."

Mr. Delmas walks over to me now as he places his hand on my shoulder.

"Let's go Smith," he orders. "Kill this thing immediately and follow me,"

"No!" I exclaim as I begin typing on the keyboard to enter the final coding of the return to the past program.

"What do you think you're doing?" Jim asks.

"The program that you showed Odd at lunch, Jeremy. I kind of… memorized it," I lie. "I know its coding; I've got photographic memory."

I shrug off Mr. Delmas' hand as he tries to pull me away, "It's a new program Jeremy dug up. And with a little luck, I'm hoping it'll work."

"Do it, Lila," Jeremy urges, barring Jim from coming closer for a few key seconds.

Ulrich spoke up, "Wait, what pro-"

"Return to the past, now!" I hurriedly shout as I press the enter key. Jim grunts while trying to cover his eyes from the bright light that envelops all of us.

 **The previous day**

I watch Yumi from the arches as she puts her coin into one of the vending machines. She grabs her drink and is about to walk away. Realizing this already happened, I get up from the arches to run up to them.

"Uh, guys, you're getting complete déjà vu too, right?" I ask, pretending I'm not aware of what has occurred.

"Yeah," Ulrich confirms. "What happened, anyway?"

Odd rubs his head in confusion, his hair down again instead of in his Lyoko style, "What are we doing here?"

"But we were doing this yesterday… you don't think…?" Yumi trails off.

Jeremy walks by us as he stops in his tracks, "Hey, wait. Didn't we do this yesterday?"

We nod, but I clutch my head as a dizzying sensation sweeps over me. I start to breathe in and out heavily as if I were hyperventilating. The memory I had of my father telling me about his regret of forgetting the first mission disappeared in shadows as our voices became distant and completely vanished.

"Lila! Lila! Are you okay?" Jeremy asks in concern from above and beside me. When I come to, I realize I'm on the ground.

"You fainted. What happened?" Yumi asks.

I keep to Mary's story and reply, "I'm so sorry… my anxiety spells are back."

"Huh? Anxiety?" Ulrich asks.

 **In Jeremy's room**

I make up a story about a time when I was little, I had anxiety and fainting spells. "Maya" nods on the screen as she seems to understand my situation.

 _"I see. I'm terribly sorry that you are going through this. What do you believe are causing these attacks?"_ "Maya" asks.

"I'm not sure," I explain. "My doctors once told me it's possible I'm hiding some sort of trauma I've experienced in the past."

 _I hate lying to them… but it's strange how Mary chose the perfect cover story, that somehow coincides with my memory loss and the fainting…_ I think.

 _"I see. So if trauma is causing these attacks… then, Jeremy, perhaps it is best if we shut down the supercomputer,"_ "Maya" determines.

"But Maya-" Jeremy starts to say.

Maya taps a finger to the side of her head as she smiles. " _Aelita."_ she reveals, _"When I entered the tower back on Lyoko…_ I – I _remembered my name."_

"Aelita. That's even better than Maya," Jeremy smiles.

Odd raises his hand and speaks up, "I have a question."

"Yes, Odd?" Jeremy asks.

"Why were you in the scanner?"

"That's a good question for once," my father nods. "Lila?"

Everyone turns to me, and I think fast to explain without giving too much away.

"Well… when I saw the coding of the return to the past program you said it was somewhat like time travel. But if it erases memories, then it must have some way to tell the difference of whose memories, otherwise nothing would get done. I figured the scanners were the key, and if you weren't scanned, you wouldn't have remembered your first successful mission. Also, it was mostly to get you away from that electric monster."

Jeremy fixes his glasses in thought, "That makes sense, actually." He then turns to Aelita,

"Anyway, what about bringing you in? I promised." Looking to us, he adds,

"Give me one more night to work it out. I'll find a way." We all glance at each other and nod in unison.

"Okay," Ulrich agrees.

"Thanks, guys," Jeremy smiles.

Ulrich gets up from Jeremy's bed, "We'll meet up in the lab tomorrow morning to see how you're doing." The rest of us follow him out the door, which I close behind me. We happen to run into Sissi standing in her pink dress and boots, tapping her foot impatiently.

"Ulrich, what are you doing here? I've been waiting for you for an hour!" Sissi complains. "I've never been stood up like this before!"

"There's always a first time. Now if you'll excuse me I'm with my friends," Ulrich says as we start to walk away from Sissi.

"I'll make you pay!" she yells after us. "Did you hear that, Ulrich?!"

"I've got a bad feeling about this girl, Sissi. I get the idea that she's going to give us a lot of grief," Odd surmises.

"You said it," I agree as we laugh.

 **Later that night**

I enter my room to find Mary waiting for me with a diary. The same blue one with the pink flower on it.

"Thank you!" I exclaim happily as I walk over to her. "You managed to find it again."

"Yes I did, except…. Lila, do you remember why we needed a diary?" Mary asks as she hands me the book.

I think it over, "Hmm… Wasn't it because I wanted to keep track of my memories?"

"Perhaps, but which ones? I've accessed my data banks and some of the memories your father stored on there are corrupted," Mary explains.

"They are?!" I ask in surprise, to which my guardian nods. "I see… there must be some sort of time interval between my old memories and the new ones I create. Even if we use the return trip to the past program… it won't restore my old memories of the bad future. Then what – what should we do with the diary?" I stammer a little.

"Well… maybe you can start writing a diary like it is meant to be read," she suggests. "Maybe you can write about your daily life and the new memories you will create. I believe the memories I have will become insufficient to keep track of the changes we make to the timeline."

"I agree. Okay then, time to write a new entry," I say as I sit on the chair. I take out a pencil from my school supplies in the drawer. Mary stands nearby as I begin writing about my new life.

 **The next day**

 **Early in the morning**

 **In the lab**

"Hi, good morning," Yumi greets. We walk up to Jeremy.

Even though I know the answer, I ask, "Were you able to find anything?"

"Yes. Xana," Jeremy answers.

Odd tilts his head inquisitively, his hair styled in a point and dyed partially with the purple streak again, "Xana? What's that?"

 _"A super dangerous program – like a virus – which can control electricity and activate towers on Lyoko to gain access to your world,"_ Aelita explains.

"So the red tower, the electricity monster, the weird symbol, the monsters on Lyoko—all of that was Xana?" Yumi asks.

"Yes," Jeremy answers gravely. "Only Aelita can counter it by deactivating the tower that it uses for attacks in the real world."

"That's great. But what about materializing Aelita?" Ulrich asks.

"I can do it, but I need some time. It's dangerous; Xana can attack at any moment," Jeremy replies.

 _"Be reasonable Jeremy. We'd better just shut this thing down,"_ Aelita says.

We all look at each other before closing our eyes with a collective sigh.

"Listen, now that we know how to neutralize Xana, we just have to get Aelita to the activated tower," Ulrich says when we all look back at Jeremy.

He nods, "Mm-hmm."

Odd holds up his finger, "We can find a way to counter the attacks while Einstein brings Aelita back to Earth right?"

"It's risky. But we are Lyoko warriors after all aren't we?" Yumi asks with a smile.

"Yeah!" Odd, Ulrich, and I exclaim as the four of us put our fists together.

After a pause, Aelita speaks up from the computer, slight hope in her voice, "You really think you can do it?"

"They don't call me Einstein for nothing," Jeremy reassures. "In the meanwhile, let's not forget about our pact huh?"

"Hey, relax," Yumi replies. "We all know how to keep a secret."

 _Jeremy, I wish I could tell you that I'm living proof that you will one day succeed in materializing Aelita. I just need to be careful on the changes I make to the timeline… because if I change it too much… who knows what's going to happen?_ I think.

 **And done! Don't forget to review!**

 **LyokoWarrior1994**


	4. Teddygodzilla

**This chapter was written by me, and edited by AeroJester203. I only own my OC. Lila. Mary was created by AeroJester203.**

 **Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is the sole property of MoonScoop. I do not own it.**

 **Author's note: Sorry for the wait on the new chapter! Life happens, but it's here at last! Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 _Teddygodzilla_

 **Inside the gymnasium**

 **POV Lila's**

I'm currently in the gymnasium helping Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi set up decorations for the prom. Milly and Tamiya, the school journalists, are filming us setting the decorations. Milly is a seventh grader with red hair that is tied into two ponytails with yellow ribbons. She has white skin and dark brown eyes. Her friend handling the camera, Tamiya, has dark skin and light brown eyes.

"Hel- _lo_ , my dear classmates of Kadic Academy!"

Milly says into the microphone.

"Milly and Tamiya here. We have a special scoop, for you all today. Most of you must be aware by now, that tonight is a big night for our annual prom. Sadly, we aren't allowed to film where the big event will occur. From what it looks like, there is one girl who might be crowned our beauty queen, and that girl I mean, is the principal's daughter, Sissi Delmas," Milly speaks.

I see Sissi walking towards Milly and Tamiya, with her two friends Herb and Nicholas. A memory of a conversation I had with her in the future about her younger self stirs in my mind.

 **In Lila's Memory**

 _In my memory, I'm about ten years old as Elisabeth drops me off quickly back to my father's. She had taken over running Kadic Academy after her father passed away, despite Xana blowing up random buildings, in different countries, every month. She didn't want the kids to live in fear; she wanted to make school fun and have them learn in peace. She didn't even go by her old nickname anymore, preferring "Lisa" in more casual settings nowadays._

 _The hover car stops at the house as Elisabeth opens the door, "You know… despite Xana ruling the world, it's given me a second chance to be better to kids."_

 _"What do you mean?" I ask while taking my bag._

 _"Your father would never tell you this, but I was always mean to him and his group. Especially to little kids, too."_

 _I blink, incredulous that Ms. Delmas could be mean to anybody with how kind and upstanding she is, "You were?"_

 _She nods with a regretful look, "I remember this time when Milly, a seventh grader, asked Ulrich out. I laughed at her when she got rejected by him. Understandably, she was too young for him… but the way I went about it. I was cruel."_

 _"Well you're a different person now. What's done is done," I say with a smile, thanking her for the ride home._

 **End of memory**

My memory ends when I snap back into reality. I look at Milly and Tamiya, who are still talking to Sissi.

"-Give any comments?" Milly finishes. I stop decorating and open the door fully.

"Hey Milly, Tamiya," I interrupt.

"Yes?" Milly asks as her friend focuses the camera on me.

I smile, "How about I give you guys a special preview to tonight's prom?"

"What?! No way, you can do that?" Milly asks in amazement.

"No, she can't!" Sissi denies. "She needs to get permission from my father!"

"No worries," I lie. "My mom already got it."

"Thank you so much! Some other time, Sissi!" Tamiya exclaims as they go inside the gymnasium and I close the door on Sissi, Herb and Nicholas.

"Hey!" Sissi exclaims from the other side of the glass. I smile back with a shrug as they walk away with Sissi huffing. Once Milly and Tamiya go to film Ulrich, Odd and Yumi decorating, I discreetly take out my phone. Mary quietly expels herself from it and slips through the top of the door out of the gymnasium.

"Hey, Lila!" Tamiya calls, prompting me to jump slightly in surprise while pocketing my phone again.

"Yes?" I ask in a casual tone after calming myself and turning around.

Milly holds her microphone forward, "Can we interview you?"

"Um, I'm kind of camera shy," I admit.

"Just a few questions!" Tamiya insists with her camera ready. "Please?"

"O-okay," I stammer through, walking up to them as Milly holds the microphone in front of me.

"Being a new student do you think you'll be attending the prom?" she asks.

"I hope so," I reply. "It'll be my first dance ever."

"No way!" Tamiya exclaims. "You're so pretty, though!"

"Thanks, but my father was always busy with work, so I was sent to a private school in America. They weren't fond of dancing," I lie.

"That's surprising! What sort of music do you like?" Milly asks.

"Techno," I reply as my father had once shown me my mother's techno music, she had learned, while staying at Kadic. He even mentioned to me, she played with a famous band in front of the entire school… I believe it was called Sub sonics.

"That's surprising," Tamiya comments.

"Do you plan on going with anyone to the prom?" Tamiya asks with the camera still rolling.

"Um – um," I stammer a little. "I like going by myself honestly. It's easier."

"No plans to be prom queen? Maybe you can run against Sissi," Milly says.

"No plans," I shake my head. "Besides, I'm not into that stuff. Do you mind, if we end the interview there?"

"Sure! Thank you, Lila, for the interview!" Milly exclaims happily as she gives Tamiya the cue to end the interview.

The record light turns off on the camera, I ask, "So, speaking of the dance, who are you planning on going with Milly?"

Milly looks over to Ulrich as he sets up one of the decorations, her face starting to blush as she speaks up,

"Well, it's now or never," She appears to screw up her courage and walks up to Ulrich.

"Ulrich – I – I would like you to be my date tonight! Would you, please?" Milly asks stammering a little from shyness. Ulrich steps down from the ladder, and then bends down to Milly.

"Milly… I'm a bit older than you. And you see… I'd already promised Yumi, I'd go with her," Ulrich answers. Milly starts to cry.

"Milly…" Tamiya starts before Milly drops the microphone and runs out of the gymnasium in tears. "Milly, come back! Please!" she calls as she picks up the microphone and chases after her.

"Ulrich, you're a gentleman," I tell him sarcastically as Ulrich ignores me and gets back to work. He finds masking tape as he places it on the wires.

"Come on Ulrich, don't be too sad. I wouldn't have been mad if you said yes, I mean it's only prom," Yumi says. Odd swirls the microphone in his hands.

"Even if I took you to prom?" Odd asks in the microphone while Jeremy enters the gymnasium, placing a box on the ground.

"If Odd was your date, Yumi, something tells me Ulrich would be jealous," my father says jokingly.

"I– I would not," Ulrich stammers, blushing a little.

"Sure, you wouldn't," I remark as we can't help but laugh a little.

 **Later**

 **Outside**

Later, we finished decorating. We heard something had happened to Sissi. After rushing to her dorm, we stand under the arches to see a small crowd gathered around her and her father. Sissi's face is covered in powder as she is in a light blue bathrobe, appearing shaken as Mr. Delmas leads her along. Milly and Tamiya are also on the scene, the redhead writing in her notebook as her friend takes a picture of the scene with her camera.

"Please everyone, give her some room. There's nothing to see," Mr. Delmas requests while guiding his daughter.

Odd turns to the rest of us, "Let's make sure a certain little friend of ours isn't up to any trouble."

"Right," Yumi nods in agreement.

We're now outside of Sissi's room, as we scan Sissi's room. It looks like a whirlpool had turned everything upside down.

"So, what's the verdict?" Ulrich asks.

"Looks like she plugged all of her appliances, all at once. I think this is a short circuit, not Xana," Jeremy answers.

Yumi nods in agreement, "I agree. There's the highlights, a lady shaver… and I think that's a curling iron. All of them plugged in together? Seems like this was bound to happen eventually."

Jeremy looks at a complicated piece of machinery, "There's a brain stimulator here too. Though, something tells me she probably never worked out how to use it. It was probably a gift from Mr. Delmas. Come on, Lila, let's go."

"Okay, if you say so," I reluctantly agree, trying to remember anything about this incident from conversations in the future as we walk away from Sissi's room.

Later, Odd and I are crossing the courtyard where we spot Milly crying on a bench with Tamiya next to her, trying to comfort her. We walk toward them to see what is wrong, hearing the photographer's latest words.

"Come on Milly, these pictures are great," Tamiya reassures.

Odd and I stop in front of them as he asks, "Is everything, okay Milly?"

"What can we do to help?" I add.

Tamiya looks around and waves for us to lean closer. We bend down to listen as she informs in a low tone, "It looks like someone took her teddy bear."

"I'm positive, it was someone older who took it!" Milly emotionally states.

Tamiya continues shuffling through the pictures, stopping as she takes a closer look at one before her eyes widen in realization.

"Milly… you may be right!" Tamiya exclaims. Odd and I walk to Tamiya's side, looking at the picture. In it, we see Sissi's room before the mess occurred.

"This is a picture of Sissi's room," Tamiya says.

"Do you see that?" she then asks pointing to a specific spot.

Milly wipes her eyes, "Yeah! It's my teddy bear!" she shouts.

Looking closely, I see the teddy bear hidden underneath Sissi's pillow. For some reason, I can't help but think it's a little too conveniently placed.

"It's hidden right beneath her pillow! That's amazing!" the journalist

exclaims.

"Who would have guessed?" Odd asks. "She must enjoy, playing with dolls or something," he jokes.

"We can't go to the dorms…, we'll get into trouble if Jim catches us," Tamiya reminds her.

"Don't worry you two, I'll handle this with Odd," I offer as I take the picture.

Milly and Tamiya laugh, happy that we can investigate for them. More importantly, I want them out of the way since I'm getting a bad feeling about this missing doll.

 **In Sissi's room**

Odd and I manage to get into Sissi's room without a problem. Strangely enough, the teddy bear is no longer in the room. Odd rubs his head in confusion as he wonders where it could've gone to, if Sissi hadn't returned to her room since being put in the infirmary.

For some reason, I can't shake my bad feeling about this, I think it's starting to look more like Xana's work now.

Once I split up from Odd, I make sure I'm alone and whisper, "Mary, see if you can find any signs of Xana in the city."

The wisp of her spectre form leaving my pocket and traveling into an outlet is all the answer I need.

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside the gymnasium**

Later in the gymnasium, Mary had come back to me just before I went into the gymnasium to help with the finishing touches for prom. For some reason, she didn't seem to detect any signs of Xana's activities, which only set me more on edge. It wasn't like in the future, where he didn't have to hide anymore. Finding signs of his attacks were easier, because they were frequent in the real world. My father didn't have access to the factory anymore and that made everything much more difficult. Especially, when it came to finding his troops, like the tarantulas, those were everywhere. One wrong move… and it cost you, your life.

Jeremy sets the records as he listens to them using his headphones while I place a few more decorations on the walls.

Eventually, he takes off the headphones to ask, "The incident with Sissi… was a bit strange, right?"

"You did say it was a short circuit," Ulrich answers while tossing a roll of tape between his hands. "Too many appliances plugged in, all at once. What, other reason, could there be?" he asks.

"I think you know very well what Jeremy means, Ulrich," I remind him.

My father shakes his head with a sigh, "Well, something about this is making me feel uneasy."

"We should keep our voices down. Let's not forget, that walls have ears," Yumi reminds us as Herb and Nicholas pass by us carrying boxes.

She then gets up from the steps to stretch before turning to us, "I should leave. I need to get ready for prom. Sometimes, it's a real drag, when it comes to being a day student."

"You shouldn't complain," Ulrich grumbles. "You never have to wake up at six in the morning. You always have hot water, and you don't sleep next to a roommate, whose feet smell."

Yumi smiles as she waves us goodbye and walks to the door of the gymnasium, "I'll see you later."

"Now that Yumi mentions it, I should probably get ready myself. It'll be my first prom," I smile.

Odd tilts his head in curiosity as he sets the box he was carrying down,

"Who are you going with, Lila?"

"I'm going by myself. I recently got out of a relationship… and it was a bit heartbreaking to say the least," I lie trying to make sure Odd does not fall in love with me. That would be creepy. He's like my uncle.

"Oh…" he says as I begin to walk out.

"Keep me updated about what happened with Sissi," I request as I walk to the door.

"We will," Jeremy reassures.

After leaving the gymnasium, I walk outside as I got to the girl's dorm. I walk to my room, as I enter my room.

 **In Lila's room**

I put my hand in the pocket and reach for my phone. I take it out as Mary expels herself from the phone.

"Smart move," she compliments. "Not wanting a relationship because of a break-up is a good excuse to go to a dance alone. It'll be difficult to find one, if it's possible at all in this timeline without altering it. Do you think Odd will buy it?"

"I'm sure he will. And besides…I had to. Odd marries Samantha Knight, not be confused with Samantha Suarez. When Odd and Samantha knight got married, my father told me it was just before the future turns to hell. Even though Odd and Samantha haven't been reacquainted yet and won't be for some time, I don't want any of the guys to fall in love with me." I say as I plop into my bed tiredly. "It would just be weird and creepy. Odd and Ulrich are like family. At least this Jeremy is already in love with Aelita; that'd be even worse to deal with. My father told me he fell in love with my mother the minute he laid eyes on her. It was love at first sight. It's just… difficult being a time traveler."

"It is," Mary agrees. "While I was away getting permission for Milly and Tamiya film in the gymnasium, you didn't change the timeline, again did you?"

"Not drastically. I mean, I averted Sissi being mean to Milly and Tamiya. But future Sissi told me she was always mean to them. I assume because it happened multiple times, I didn't get anxiety or faint from the memory loss." I narrow my eyes as I think and recall the conversation, "In fact, it's… still intact, for some reason."

Mary walks over to the window as she opens it, "I see. That is bizarre. Maybe small things like that won't change the timeline, especially if it doesn't involve Jeremy, Ulrich, Odd, or Yumi. Anyway, I'm going to go out and get your dress."

Not wanting to ask Mary how she is able to afford the dress, I decide to anyways.

"Say, uh, Mary? How exactly are you able to afford everything I own? Including the dress, you want to buy me and the school's tuition?"

Mary seems to stiffen slightly and answers, "I uh… I won the lotto. About a half a million in Euros."

"You did what?!" I exclaim, remembering that the same sort of thing got my uncle Ulrich in trouble with the rest of the group.

"Well, gotta go!" Mary excuses as she transforms into her smoke from as rushes out the window.

I rush to the windowsill, but can't spot her again. Huffing, I think,

 _She is so dead when she gets back!_

I walk around my room, as I look at my father's laptop.

"I wonder…" I trail off as I take my chair, and sit on it. I open my father's laptop, as I push the power button on. The laptop takes a while to load, but it finally does. I begin typing on it, as I try to find one of my father's old video diaries. Something to help search for clues, about the incident with Sissi, and a teddy bear.

Eventually, time passes, as I look outside my window. I notice the sun is starting to set. I receive a text from Jeremy telling me to meet him, Odd, and Ulrich under the arches. Leaving the window open for Mary, I open the door as I walk over to my door and open it, leaving my room. I lock the door behind me, knowing Mary will still be able to get inside without me being there.

 **Under the arches**

I meet the others under the arches, as Odd reveals a crumpled and poorly drawn picture of an angry teddy bear that he had in his hand. Apparently, Jim was attacked and had drawn an image of his attacker. Mr. Delmas had dismissed the likelihood of the teddy bear attacking him and thrown away the drawing, but Odd had taken the drawing from the trash to show us.

Ulrich takes the paper in his hand to get a closer look. "Is this even possible? Xana taking over a teddy bear?" he asks skeptically.

"Could be," my father nods. "There's always that chance, we'll find him somewhere we'll never expect him to be."

"Let's decide. Who goes to Lyoko, and who stays here?" Odd asks.

"A solo mission, would be impossible. There's too much danger," Jeremy replies.

"I'll go," Odd raises his finger with a grin.

"Odd, did you not just listen to Jeremy? We shouldn't take on solo missions. It would be easier, with more of us," say.

"Do you two have a better idea?" he asks us. "Remember there's already been two incidents. The school needs to be guarded, and once we go back in time, we can't bring anyone back. No accidents, otherwise it's over."

"Odd right's. He and Lila, should go. I can stay here," Ulrich decides as he crumples the paper and throws it away in a garbage can. He reaches out and places one hand on Odd's shoulder and the other on my father's.

"I'll let you know if I find anything here. Now, go and say hi to Aelita for me," he says

"Right," Jeremy nods.

I take out my phone and pretend to text, "I'll have to inform my mom that I won't be making it to prom, then."

I should remind Mary to get a phone, I think as I stop "texting".

I put my phone away with a nod. Ulrich releases Odd and Jeremy as I follow them to the boiler room. Odd opens the door, allowing us to run down the tunnel ahead of him before he closes the door and catches up. We leap over the pipe while grabbing our new rides. Odd grabs a skateboard, Jeremy grabs a scooter, and I grab another scooter, one that Mary had bought me recently. Jeremy and I have a similar scooter, almost identical. His scooter is silver, while my scooter is the same height as his, and the color of my scooter is gray.

Odd runs at top speed with his skateboard in two hands before releasing it and jumping on it to speed ahead. Jeremy and I follow behind him, the three of us soon reaching the end of the tunnel. We get off of our rides, climbing up a ladder that leads to just by the bridge at the factory. Odd pulls the sewer cover open, allowing us to climb up, from the manhole, and reach the surface. Odd tosses the metal cover to the side as I notice it has gotten dark out. We run across the bridge to reach the factory and swing on the ropes, sliding down to the lower level.

Jeremy presses the button to take us down to the lab, exiting a moment later to go sit down on his chair.

Odd and I, meanwhile, continue down to the scanner room. The machines close once we're inside.

 _"Transfer: Odd, Transfer: Lila,"_ Jeremy starts. The scanner starts to make a noise.

" _Scanner: Odd, Scanner: Lila_ ," he continues as the scanner spins.

" _Virtualization!"_

A rush of wind envelops me in the scanner, causing my hair and time machine necklace to billow in the gust as the familiar white light flares and eclipses my vision.

 **Lyoko's Desert Sector**

I feel my sight returning as I appear in the sky over Lyoko's Desert Sector. I manage to land perfectly and notice that Odd had done the same. We look around as we see Aelita waving to us. Running over to her, I notice that she is beside a big gaping hole in the desert.

"Xana's going to become angrier, and he'll want to hurt his enemies. He'll want to hurt you,"

 _"Huh?!"_ Jeremy realizes.

 _Wait a minute… Yumi!_ I think with concern. _Okay, stay calm. I'm sure Ulrich is going to get Yumi, and keep her safe_

We walk closer to the edge of the cliff. I look down to see several lower levels, plateau's. I realize also see strange lake at the bottom of it. If I'm not mistaken, it's the Digital Sea.

"I'm sure the tower isn't far. Look at the pulsations," Aelita says as we look at them.

Odd looks down to the lower levels, and the digital sea.

"Can't be down there, that's for sure," he says.

"Perhaps, the tower is on one of the plateau's nearby," Aelita suggests as she points to several different plateau's up ahead.

Hearing skittering legs, I look to see five Kankrelats, which looks like roaches, moving towards us.

"We don't have time now," I say as Aelita gasps and Odd scowls at them.

" _Odd, Lila. Please, keep Aelita safe."_

"Always," I say as I take out my staff with one hand. Odd and I start jumping as we dodge the lasers. I make sure to guard Aelita, blocking the lasers with the hard point of my staff. I start chanting in Latin, to ready the my fire bolts, and unleash them at the curled head of my staff.

"Laser Arrows!" Odd exclaims.

"Fire Bolt!" I exclaim as I swing my staff at one of the Kankrelats. Two of them explode from our attacks as I give Aelita the okay to run. Aelita nods as she starts running to the first plateau she was standing behind. I quickly put my staff away, as I switch to my sword. One of the lasers hits Odd as I try to block the rapid lasers that are firing at me with both weapons. Unfortunately, my sword is knocked out of my hand and two lasers hit me in my open side as I fly backwards.

" _Odd, you're down on another ten life points,"_ Jeremy urgently reports. _"Lila twenty for you!"_

"No kidding!" Odd exclaims while cocking his glove.

Acting on instinct, I hold out my hand and pull the sword towards me, my eyes widening as it flies into my hand. Having no time to think about how it worked, I put it back into its sheath, and start running with Odd down the cliff. Taking shelter on the path that hugs the wall of the pit, the rocky edge blocking the lasers.

"Lila, Odd! I think we need to move, and quickly!" Aelita exclaims.

I nod, "Right!"

I start running with her, pulling ahead to make sure none of Xana's monsters come up from the front. I hear Odd gasp and look back to see that he's breathing hard as if in shock. But he starts to move as the kankerlats appear again. He runs behind Aelita. We continue running down the path.

Jeremy speaks again,

" _Odd, you're down to fifty life points. Lila, you've got forty left."_

My eyes widen

 _No way! I thought I had more than that! Is it my magic? But it shouldn't be draining me, unless… I looked at my sword._ _Did calling it to my hand really make such a difference? Jeremy must not have noticed since we were under fire_

"Laser Arrows!" Odd calls from behind us as Aelita and I continue to run. We reach a lower level as rocks start to fall from above, dropping towards us. With Aelita in front of me, I push her to safety.

"Lila, no!" she exclaims as the rocks throw me off the edge.

I scream as I fall, but a blur of purple moves into my vision, Odd intercepting and grabbing onto my hand before using the momentum to tackle me towards the wall where he can grab onto the stone with the claws of his free hand.

Aelita moves carefully to the edge from the higher levels, "Are you two okay?!"

"We're good! Meet us down here," Odd says as Aelita nods and starts running down the winding path. I start to look down where we are as I notice a hidden path with cables pulsing red and electricity going through them.

"Hey… it looks like I found something," I say.

Odd looks and throws me to land there before swinging himself down to the hidden path, the two of us looking inside.

I take out my staff and hum as I try to concentrate, thinking as hard as I can. If I could manipulate my sword, then I should be able to do the same with my staff. Hopefully, without the lost of any life points this time.

 _Go pick up Aelita and come back to me with her,_ I mentally command as firmly as I can.

The staff starts to hover in my hands before it flies out and up.

"How'd you do that?" Odd asks incredulously.

I shake my head while concentrating on bringing the staff back to me,

"I'll let you know when I figure it out; I'm trying to focus."

Aelita comes in, yelping a little as the staff roughly carries her down into the hidden path, balancing her along its length from between her legs before it drops her to her feet and returns to my hand. Her eyes widen as she sees the pulsations, and I look at my staff.

 _So calling my sword back costs life points, but my staff doesn't cost anything? I muse. That's a little weird, but it also doesn't cost me anything to use Firebolts, when it costs me twenty to use fire in my sword… Magic is almost as confusing as time travel._

"You're right. It looks like you two did find something," Aelita says as she recovers from her impromptu flight, bringing me back to the situation at hand as I hold my staff in a ready position again.

" _Odd, Lila. Ulrich's informed me that Teddy is on the move, and getting angrier by the second. You'll need to hurry_ ," Jeremy informs.

Odd readies himself as well, "We will."

"The tower should be close by," Aelita surmises as she follows the pulsations carefully.

"The tower should be…" She trails off as Odd and I catch up to her.

From behind us, we hear something rolling. Turning to look, there's a big metal ball approaching fast.

"Houston, we've got a problem," Odd informs.

 _A Megatank_! I internally curse. _I'd know one anywhere, they were Xana's main troops in the future. Being the second most mechanical of his monsters on Lyoko, Xana was able to manufacture them relatively easily, along with the tarantulas, to put down any resistance in the real world, including armies. The metal shells of a megatank made them impervious to most attacks._

Aelita, Odd, and I start running to avoid being crushed by the rolling metal ball. The Megatank continues to follow, nearly hitting us as we jump out of the way. But the mechanical monster keeps going and rolls itself onto the platform where the tower is.

"Jeremy, we've located the tower," I inform while getting up.

" _Good job. Now all you need to do is to deactivate the tower,"_ Jeremy says.

"Don't worry, we'll take care of that tower. Lila and I, still need to deal with one of our friend's," Odd says while cocking his glove after he stood as well.

" _You two should be careful. You only have fifty life points left Odd. And Lila, you have thirty life points!" Jeremy informs._

 _No way… that when I used my staff to bring Aelita down to the lower level… I lost ten life points?! Ugh…, I'll need to make sure not to use the attraction spell. That has a nice ring to it,_ I think.

" _Don't let the megatank hit you,"_ he warns.

The Megatank opens as it starts charging its laser.

Odd readies his Laser Arrows as I switch out my staff for my sword. Unlike in the real world, these virtual Megatanks have a weak point when they open to attack. I start to chant the spell to inflame my sword.

The monster fires its laser, a vertical disk of death, as Odd and I dodge the attack. I continue chanting as my sword starts to grow small flames around the blade.

"Talk about heating things up," Odd quips as he tries to fire his Laser Arrows. The Megatank closes, letting the projectiles bounce harmlessly against the metal shell before it focuses on him and shoots off another laser. The feline fighter dodges the attack as my sword fully ignites. Seeming to sense this, the machine focuses on me as it starts to charge its laser again.

"Jeremy!" Aelita calls. "Odd and Lila aren't going to make it on their own! Lila still needs more time to charge her attack!"

 _"They're going to make it. Odd, Lila, make sure to hit the target."_

"It's ready!" I exclaim as I slash and unleash a crescent blade of fire at the Megatank. It unleashes its laser at the same time, causing the two attacks to clash together. I hold my sword by the hilt and press my other hand against the back of the blade as if blocking while I concentrate on focusing my fire power to channel it continuously through the sword.

 _"Lila!"_ Jeremy warns. _"You just dropped to twenty life points from that attack and you're dropping one per second while maintaining it!"_

"Odd, I'm giving you an opening!" I call as I brace my sword, feeling like I'm holding the laser myself from a distance. "You've got to do it now!"

 _"Lila's right! It's now or never, She's gone down to ten life points_!" Jeremy urgently agrees.

I look to see Odd focusing his paws as he readies his arrows. He decides instead to run around our clashing energy on all fours since there is an eye in the front and the back. He leaps onto the back of the Megatank as he aims his hand.

"Impact!" he exclaims before firing his Laser Arrow at point-blank range into the eye, causing the machine to explode.

I throw myself to the side as I roll away from the massive energy wave mixed in with my fire power once I stop maintaining it. The combined attack launches behind me, making a loud explosion after a short time. Odd lands on the ground as he gives a thumbs-up to Aelita.

 _"Lila are you okay?_ Your attack and blocking it for that long cost you most of your life points!" Jeremy informs. " _You're down thirty – five life points, you just have five life points left now."_

 _Ugh…. I really need to remember not to use my fire sword except for emergencies_ , I think. If fatigue was real on Lyoko, I'd be unconscious or at least dead on my feet with five life points left.

Aelita runs over to me in concern, "Are you okay Lila?"

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you. Go to the tower, quickly," I say with a smile as I get up with a little help from my mother.

" _Like she says Aelita. It's, your turn now,_ " Jeremy urges, getting a nod from Aelita. She runs up to the tower and slowly slips in through the wall. Soon, we see the tower lose its red glow in exchange for a blue one.

"Ready for a trip in time?" Odd asks.

I smile back, "Always."

The return to the trip is activated a big white bubble engulfs us. It brings us back to early this morning.

 **Earlier the same day**

 **Inside the gymnasium**

I realize, I'm in the gymnasium as I look at Milly, and Tamiya.

"So, speaking of the dance, who are you planning on going with Milly?" I ask.

"Well, it's now or never," She appears to screw up her courage and walks up to Ulrich.

"Ulrich – I – I would like you to be my date tonight! Would you, please?" Milly asks stammering a little from shyness. Ulrich steps down from the ladder, and then bends down to Milly.

"Milly, I'll be more than happy to take you," Ulrich replies with a smile.

Milly smiles in return as Ulrich adds, "I'll meet you here at eight."

Yumi, Lila, Odd, and I can't help but be happy for Milly.

Milly beams joyously as Ulrich stands back up, "Seriously?! You will?!"

"I will," Ulrich replies, he looks to Yumi. "I hope you aren't mad at me Yumi."

"Not at all Ulrich," she smiles. "Besides, I'll have Odd take me to the prom. Right Odd?" she asks.

The spike-haired boy smiles, "That's right."

Later, I decide to go back to my room as I open the door, then close it. I see Mary sitting on the bed not looking happy.

"You forgot to bring me to Lyoko this time. What happened?" Mary asks.

"Well… I somehow gained a new spell. I dubbed it, attraction. I can bring my staff and sword, using a form of telepathy, like what Yumi will use in time. At first, I was only using the attraction spell with my sword, and it would drain my life points. I figured, using my staff with the attraction spell, wouldn't cost me in any life points. But, Jeremy confirmed later that even when I use my staff while using the attraction spell, I will lose life points. I came close to devirtualization," I explain.

"How many life points did you have left?"

"Five," I answer.

"Then I recommend using that spell in emergency situations only. Did anything else happen on Lyoko?"

"Not a lot. I didn't change the timeline drastically like you said."

"And I just thought of something… My time machine necklace wasn't detected in the scanners. Even though you weren't with me."

Mary puts her hand under her chin as she ponders, "That is strange. Perhaps it's not just my programming that is blocking it. Perhaps your time machine necklace also acts as a cloaking device in the scanners."

I take my necklace in my hands as I stare at it, as if it would give me answers.

"Yeah, maybe…" I look at Mary, "I've been wondering… am I going to get uranium poisoning?" Mary looks at me, caught off guard by that question.

"From the power supply of the time machine?" she asks.

"Yes," I nod.

"No, you shouldn't. If you look at your necklace closely, you'll notice the chain holding the transformed, miniaturized time machine, is encased with copper, but throughout the chain contains lead. You should be safe from lead poisoning, as every now and then, I'll clean the time machine necklace. Insuring, it doesn't rust," she explains.

I pull my chair out, as I sit on it. "Thanks. Also…"You'll be able to get the dress again right?"

"I believe so," she nods.

"And listen about the lotto ticket how did you do it exactly?" I ask a bit nervously.

"I accessed one of your father's video diaries. In the video entry, your father listed several winning lotto numbers," Mary explains.

"He said it was to be used for emergencies only. He also mentioned that the people who won, squandered the money… so, I mean, I didn't exactly harm the timeline either. In retrospect… I probably helped their lives for the better."

"I suppose," I reply as I open the window for Mary. "I don't suppose you mind getting the dress again?"

"Of course not. I'll be back shortly," Mary replies as she turns into her specter form drifting out the window. I open one of the drawers in my desk and take out my diary, deciding to write in it, this time, since I haven't written anything after my first entry. I take out a pen and begin.

 _Dear Diary… another successful mission on Lyoko today I gained a new, but costly spell. Mary revealed to me how she's able to afford my tuition and other expenses. I'm just glad it doesn't affect the timeline dramatically. I'm still getting used to living in a different timeline, then my own. I miss my father. I want to believe that the future Jeremy Belpois that I left in my timeline is still alive. That the Xana bots didn't obliterate him… But for some reason I feel he is most certainly dead. I can't help but wonder what my role is here. I'm just starting out as a Lyoko Warrior…. and I hope in time… I'll figure out the true reason why my father sent me back this early in the timeline. There must be a reason… There MUST be!_

 **And done! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to review!**

 **LyokoWarrior1994**

Author's note: Sorry about the reupload!


	5. Seeing is Believing

**This chapter was written by me and edited by AwesomeFanFictionAuthor.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko, all copy righting goes to MoonScoop. I only own my OC Lila. Mary, was created by AeroJester203.**

 **Sorry for the long wait, but I hope everyone likes this chapter!**

 _Seeing is Believing_

 **In Lila's room**

 _Dear Diary,_

 _Well, my first prom went well, surprisingly. Odd and Yumi seemed like they were enjoying themselves. Ulrich was happy to take Milly to the prom. Especially since their dancing ticked Sissi off. Sissi didn't understand how Ulrich could take someone as young as Milly to the prom. As the night went on, she just kept getting angrier. It was hilarious! I had a fun time myself, even though I went alone. Well, I better get going. Going to see my father. It's strange seeing Jeremy so young sometimes…_

 _Write more soon,_

 _Lila_

I close my diary and lock it with its key. I then put the key and diary in one of my desk drawers. I take my bag as I walk to the door and open it. I close it and lock it. I take out my phone, and I glance down the hallway to make sure nobody will overhear my conversation.

"Hey Mary?" I whisper.

Mary turns the phone on as she pretends to yawn. I roll my eyes.

" _Yes Lila? How may I assist you?"_

"Listen, I was wondering... what exactly charges this phone? I know it's my father's old retro phone… and thankfully he doesn't realize it's the same one I'm using. I mean, I get texts from Jeremy, Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi, but I never need to charge it. How come?" I ask as I get to the stairs. I start walking down the stairs.

" _Simple really, I believe it has the same power supply it originally did when he used it. He also gave you that charger, you found a while back,"_ Mary explains as I reach the bottom of the stairs.

"Thanks Mary. I've been meaning to tell you… I still haven't figured out your role on Lyoko yet," I whisper.

" _I haven't either. Perhaps…. We can see if I have any powers on Lyoko. If I do, we'll need to be discreet about it."_

"Right," I nod. "I better get going to class. Talk to you soon, Mary."

" _Okay Lila. I hope you have a well-educated class,"_ she says as she turns the phone off.

 **In Mrs. Hertz's class**

During class, a guest speaker is now giving a lecture.

"The heating plant that we have, is powered by our very own nuclear reactor. This of course, produces a great deal of energy,"

Doctor Delacre points to each part of the nuclear plant on the projected diagram with his ruler.

 _Xana never blew the nuclear reactor up in the future, despite his one attempt my father told me about in the past. I always wondered why he never attacked the nuclear reactor again. Something like that would annihilate all of humanity. Most likely Xana needed some humans to be kept alive as slaves._ I continue to take notes as the projector keeps rolling the diagram.

"This plant is truly powerful. It's most likely the most powerful one in the world. With me being the chief engineer, our main concern is safety. Every safety measure has been set in place and as well as France's finest security protocols," Doctor Delacre says. The projector keeps rolling.

"I would be happy to answer questions if anyone has any," Doctor Delacre finishes.

Jeremy raises his hand first. I raise my hand a few seconds after him.

"First the young man, then the young lady sitting next to him," Doctor Declare decides. I lower my hand.

"Sir, I have a question," Jeremy says.

"Please, go ahead Jeremy," Mrs. Hertz urges. He stands up as I look at him.

"I'm curious if there are any projects that you are aware of, that consists of an atomic – powered computer system. One that combines virtual particles, and materialize those in the real world," Jeremy says, referencing the supercomputer and my mother. Odd stops doodling and smiles at Jeremy, Ulrich looks at him as well.

"I see," Doctor Delacre nods. He sniffles as he fixes his glasses with one finger.

"Well that clearly sounds like it's something from a science fiction movie, sorry. No such projects exist," Doctor Delacre answers. He turns to me.

"Miss your question?" he asks as Jeremy sits down.

"Do you truly believe that your safety measures are the finest in France? What if a foreign object, or a hacker, let's say, were able to take control of the nuclear device?" I ask. I can feel Jeremy's eyes on me. It's a little unnerving, but I ignore it. _But I need to know, if this is when Xana plans to use the plant._

"Yes, I do believe the safety measures and our security protocols, are the finest in France. With the extreme care for our plant, no foreign object or hackers would be able to use the nuclear power plant for notorious purposes," Doctor Delacre answers.

"Okay – well what if it were something that is a technologically advanced, learning, autonomous being that has infinite patience and can do a million things at once?" I ask.

Doctor Delacre chuckles a little. "You kids do like your science fiction movies I suppose. No, nothing like that exists in this word."

I sit back down as Mrs. Hertz takes the slides out of the projector. She puts them into her pocket, leaving the projector on. She walks to our desk.

"Jeremy and Lila both excel in this class. They like to dream big, however," Mrs. Hertz jokes as our classmates laugh at us. Jeremy puts his hands on his cheeks and I sigh. Herb laughs loudly as Odd blows a raspberry. Suddenly the projector screen blacks out. Odd and the others gasp.

"What's going on here?" Mrs. Hertz's asks as she walks over to the projector screen. She jiggles the camera and presses the red power button on the projector. Jeremy and I look at each other in concern. Odd merely shrugs in response.

The bells ring, signaling class is over.

 **Outside the science building**

Our classmates leave the room, happy to be done. One by one we leave the classroom and walk down the stairs.

"Something tells me we have a situation stirring," Jeremy says.

"I agree with you," I nod.

"There's probably nothing to worry about you two," Odd disagrees.

We reach the bottom of the stairs and get to the front door.

"And I'm betting Xana is the cause of this," Jeremy protests as we walk out of the building. We walk to Yumi who has been waiting for us.

"Not everything has to be related to Xana. It seemed like it was just a short circuit," Odd insists.

"A lot of short circuits seem to be happening these days Odd," I remind him. Yumi nods.

"Odd," Mr. Delmas calls out, walking up to us.

"I've decided. You and your friends may form the group, you've requested. I believe it's called the um… fox trot fanatics?" Mr. Delmas asks unsure of the name.

"That's great!" Odd cheers.

"Actually sir, we're called the pop rock progressives'," Yumi corrects politely.

Mr. Delmas holds his finger in the air.

"However, the band must be opened to everyone. Is that agreeable?" he asks.

"That's fine by me!" Odd exclaims happily as we nod in unison.

Mr. Delmas nods in agreement as he walks away. Odd slides down on the ground.

"Rock and roll rules!" he exclaims. We nod again in unison, happy for Odd. He checks his watch.

"Let's get going now. We can get to the photocopier, and make fliers before lunch time Jeremy," Odd says.

Jeremy shakes his head.

"Rock and roll isn't really my forte. I think it'll be best if I get to the bottom of the outage that occurred, during class,"

Jeremy says as he grabs a hold of his bag. He starts to leave.

"Best of luck Jeremy! We'll see you later," I smile.

 **Inside the gymnasium**

We are now in the gymnasium **.** One of our classmates, Mike, walks on the stage. Mike has black hair tied back into a ponytail. He has a black t shirt with a red sweater underneath it, a gray hoodie tied around the waist of his pants. He goes to the drum set and takes the drum sticks. He starts his rhythm, hitting each of the drums. He hits the cymbal, completing his beat.

"Alright!" Mike exclaims.

Odd nods.

"Well, you definitely have style. That beat you were playing, it's from _Heavy Metal._ Is that right?" he asks.

Mike hits the cymbal again.

"Of course. They're great, I love them," Mike says.

"Mike… I'm sorry. But I think band is looking for something that's just a little bit more… traditional. Do you know what I mean?" Yumi says, trying to let him down easy.

Mike shrugs and puts the drum sticks down, then leaves the stage and exits the gymnasium. Naomi is next to take the stage. She has light dyed purple hair, with a flower in it, a short pink tank top with straps, a short purple skirt with a pink stripe around her waist, ankle high pink socks, and flip flops. Odd gasps as he sees her, a smile stretching across his face. I roll my eyes.

"Hi everyone," Naomi greets.

"Naomi, how's it going? I never knew you were a drummist," Odd says.

Naomi bats her eyes as she puts her hand near her hair.

"I've practiced a bit. It's been my dream to be in a band, like forever," Naomi says as she puts her hands together, swaying her body back and forth.

"Sure. You can start anytime Naomi," Ulrich insists.

Naomi picks up the drum sticks and starts her rhythm. She starts with a fast drum beat on one drum as she makes several slow beats, then hits the cymbals several times. Once she's finished, she places the drum sticks back on the drums as she gets up. She bows. Odd gets up from his chair and starts clapping.

"Awesome Naomi!" Odd exclaims, with too much enthusiasm, he looks at us.

"She's really good don't you think? I don't think we'll find anyone better," Odd says.

"No," I say glaring at him. "We all know why _you_ want her in the band. Besides, her drumming isn't-"

"But with a little practice she could-"

"No," I repeat.

Odd frowns as he turns to Naomi.

"Sorry Naomi," Odd says. Naomi shrugs and walks to the door. Before she leaves, she looks me in the eye, like we're having a stare down. Was I too harsh? It only lasts a moment. She quickly looks away and leaves the room. Some time passes and we start to get bored. Odd grabs the drum sticks and taps the drums on his legs. Ulrich yawns a little as Yumi and I continue to listen to his rhythm. The door opens and we hear Jeremy panting.

"Jeremy?" Ulrich asks as he looks over at Jeremy. Jeremy wipes his head and sighs, walking over to us.

"Xana's active. At least, I'm almost positive he is," Jeremy surmises as he sits down next to us.

"Are you sure?" Yumi asks.

Jeremy takes his glasses off as he wipes his head again. He puts them back on.

"I checked the pylon outside. The current is cutting out power all over the school. If the pylon goes beyond its voltage limit, there's a chance it could explode!" Jeremy exclaims.

"What would Xana accomplish by doing that?" Ulrich asks.

"I have no idea, Ulrich," Jeremy replies.

"Guess who," Sissi announces. We look over to see her, Nicholas, and Herb. Sissi takes a chair and places it in front of her, then sits down on it backwards.

"Look it's clear to my friends and I you don't like us. But, if I remember correctly, my father said the band is opened to everybody. Now, isn't that right?" she asks.

We give her a look.

"Your little group is too weird for me, don't worry. Nicholas here, does love the drums," Sissi mentions.

"Him a drummer?" Odd asks with disbelief.

"Well, looks like I'm off. I'll let you guys know what I find!" Jeremy exclaims, running out of the gymnasium. Nicholas goes to the stage and takes the drum sticks. He taps the drum sticks and starts his rhythm. His rhythm starts with a rapid beat on one drum, and then another. I notice he uses one of the mechanisms below the drums with his foot, as he continues his beat. He nods his head to the beat as we all look at him in shock. He continues with the other drum again, moving between each drum. The rhythm starts to slow down as he hits the cymbal once.

"Yeah!" he exclaims.

He smiles to Sissi and Herb who claps. Ulrich, Yumi, and I can't help but clap too. Sissi laughs.

"I think this means, you've just found your drummer," Sissi says as she gets up from the chair and walks away, Herb and Nicholas in tow.

"Look – I'll admit Nicholas has talent. But the drummer, of our band? He can be related to Elvis Presley and I still wouldn't let him join. Sissi's doing this to cause trouble within our group," Odd says.

"Odd, I think she's just trying to be helpful. I mean, Nicholas does know how to play the drums. Really well too," Yumi admits.

"She does have a point Odd," I agree.

"Much better than Naomi anyways," Ulrich remarks.

"Come on Ulrich, she's just starting out. I'm sure she just needs a little more practice," Odd defends.

"Something tells me Odd, she needs at least a few years," Ulrich jokes.

"If you guys feel that way, then you'll have to find a new guitarist! There's no way I'm letting Nicholas be our drummer!" Odd exclaims.

"Then I guess you're going to need, to find a new singer," Yumi says.

"And a new technical assistant," I add.

Ulrich puts his hands behind his head and sits back.

"If this was Sissi's plan to cause trouble, it's going well," Ulrich sighs.

We're suddenly interrupted as we hear a trombone playing. We turn around to see Jim playing the trombone.

"Do you guys have room for a slide trombone?" Jim asks as he smiles.

"Huh?" We all ask in unison.

 **Afterwards**

We decide to listen to Jim. He starts to play his trombone. Hearing the trombone being played is a strange feeling, simply because I've never heard a trombone being played before. I look at the strange instrument, but something tells me this instrument does not belong in a rock and roll band. He stops as he turns to us.

"How was that?" Jim asks.

Odd walks over to him.

"Jim, see the thing is we're a rock band. I'm not sure we can fit the trombone into our act," Odd says.

Yumi's phone starts to ring as she picks it up. She listens to who I assume is Jeremy on the other end.

"We'll be there soon," Yumi says, she looks at him. "Jim, I'm sorry but we're going to have to re schedule you,"

We start to run off.

"You guys aren't going to leave! You still need to make me a part of your band!" Jim exclaims before we run out of the gymnasium.

"Sorry Jim! Another time, promise!" I exclaim before closing the door.

 **In the woods**

We manage to get to the manhole in the woods. Odd pulls the sewer manhole cover off. Ulrich takes out his phone as he calls Jeremy.

"Jeremy, we'll be there in a few," Ulrich informs. He goes down the ladder first, then Yumi. I follow after her, and Odd goes down last. Ulrich takes his skateboard and Odd's, Yumi grabs her skateboard, I grab my scooter, as Odd makes it down. Ulrich throws Odd his skateboard. Odd catches it, then throws it to the ground and jumps on it.

"Yeah!" Odd exclaims. We continue riding, with Odd behind me on his skateboard. We reach the end of the sewer and prop our skateboards and scooter against the wall. Ulrich climbs the ladder first and emerges from the sewers. Yumi follows after with a helping hand from Ulrich. I climb out without Ulrich's help. Odd finally climbs out and pulls the sewer cover back in place. We start running on the bridge.

 **Afterwards**

 **In the lab**

We're now in,the elevator doors open on the computer lab, and I see my father is typing on his keyboard.

"Finally!" Jeremy exclaims, with relief. We gather around the monitor. A window on the computer is open, showing a percentage of what appears to be the pylon.

"I've figured out Xana's plan. Xana plans to charge the pylon and bring it to full capacity. Once, he does that he'll unleash all of it," Jeremy explains.

"Where would he unleash it?" Odd asks.

"Guess," Jeremy replies.

"You mean…" I trail off.

"That's right. On the nuclear power plant," Jeremy answers.

"But – if he does that, it'll create a short circuit. When that happens-" Yumi shakes her head, her head, not wanting to finish the sentence as Odd gasps.

"The pylon's limit is a million volts. When its reached, Xana can explode everything," Jeremy explains.

"That's nuclear sabotage! This is a bit out of our league, don't you agree?" Yumi asks.

"How so?" Ulrich asks.

"Remember, if we fail on Lyoko, the entire city can be destroyed!" Yumi exclaims.

"We need to tell the proper authorities," Yumi says.

"Yumi we can't. there will be questions a lot of questions," Jeremy says. "We'll have to explain everything. And if they discover the supercomputer, they'll discover Xana. They'll force us to pull the plugs."

"I know. Then we'll lose Aelita. We're talking about a serious disaster, this about the safety of the everyone we care about, and the city," Yumi defends.

"But Yumi if we do this…." I trail off.

"I know, I'm sorry. We all care for Aelita, but what good are we to her if we're all gone?" Yumi asks.

I sigh. Jeremy and I look at Yumi, who stares back at us.

"Look… let's take a vote. We can decide if we should tell the authorities, or not," Jeremy says. "Who votes for?" he asks.

"For," Yumi answers raising her hand.

"Against," Jeremy answers.

"Against," Odd answers.

"Undecided," I raise my hand, as this is a very difficult decision.

 _I'm not trying to sound like an egomaniac… but I need my future self to be born. If I fail in this timeline, and my old timeline reliagns it with this one… there needs to be another Lila Belpois. It'll be her turn, to save the timeline. My mother and father need to meet, I need to make sure events follow as they are supposed to. Otherwise… no Lila Belpois and Xana rules Earth forever!_

"Aelita, I'm very sorry. I think this a big risk, that we can't afford to take. I vote for," Ulrich says.

Jeremy raises his hands making with two fingers raised on each of them.

"Well then two votes for and two against. One vote undecided. With Lila's undecided vote, that makes it a tie. Which means, we aren't telling anyone," Jeremy says as he puts his hands on his hips.

"I think we need to tell everyone!" Yumi exclaims.

" _Don't I have the right to vote?"_ Aelita asks.

Jeremy nods. "Well sure you do. That way there won't be a tie. Lila you're still undecided?"

I nod.

" _Well… then I'm voting for,"_ Aelita says.

"You are?" Jeremy and I ask in unison.

" _Thousands of people shouldn't die, just to protect me,"_ Aelita explains.

"Thank you Aelita," Yumi says.

 **Inside the freight elevator**

We're In the freight elevator **,** asI try to relax. Hoping that Xana doesn't succeed. I lean against the elevator wall, trying to relax my muscles one by one…I couldn't help but feel an incredible burden.

 _What if Xana succeeds here? What if my interference is going to ruin everything? No, I can't think like that, there's a mission to attend to. I need to be patient, and wait to see how events turn out,_ I think.

The freight elevator's doors open as Ulrich, Odd, and I walk to our perspective scanners.

Odd goes into his scanner on the right, Ulrich takes the left, and I take the middle. The scanners close.

The scanner starts to spin. I close my eyes, waiting for the familiar gust of wind and bright light. My father is upset right now, so he doesn't talk during the virtualization. The gust of wind billows my hair and time machine necklace. The scanner completes the process as the gust of wind and bright light fully engulf me.

….

Odd, Ulrich, and I land safely in the desert sector.

"You guys… we'll make it right?" Odd asks.

"I really hope we do Odd," Ulrich replies as we look at Aelita who is nearby.

"Me too," I nod.

" _The scan found the activated tower. It's in the desert region, and should be close by to an Oasis,"_ Jeremy informs.

We nod and start running to Aelita.

"I'm familiar with that area, it'll be on the other plateau," Aelita points as it looks like we'll have to cross several plateaus.

 _It's times like these, Mary, where I wish I had the vehicles my father eventually makes._

 _ **I understand your position, but that doesn't happen for quite a while.**_

 _I know, I know._

We start running and soon make it to the other plateau. We search the area for the tower for several minutes without any luck. Frustrated, we decide to take a break. Ulrich slashes his katana on the ground, Odd sits on a rock, and I do the same.

 _ **I believe I may able to help you on Lyoko now…**_

 _Yes, Mary? Were you able to find some sort of ability we can use without letting the others know?_

 _ **Truth be told… I rearranged some of your avatar's coding, and I managed to give you two new powers, which will be believed as spells, that centers around magic**_ **.** _ **It will be my abilities flowing through you.**_

 _ **You'll need to pretend you're activating these "spells" by chanting in Latin. I hope you understand that I had to include reasonable life point deductions, otherwise it would cause too much suspicion**_.

 _ **Now, 'Bomb' simulates converting a portion of your 'magic' into explosive energy that is converted into your staff. It forms a big ball of energy, which can clear out a large group of monsters. It will cost you forty life points. Be careful with it; it can damage allies too if they don't get away from the blast radius in time.**_

 _ **'Strength' makes it so that your magic is switched to strictly enhance your physical abilities, meaning you can't use any spells while in this state. Your strength and speed receive a significant increase. You will be able to overpower monsters rather quickly, but it costs twenty points to activate due to the 'strain' on your body. It has a time limit of one minute. You'll need to be quick. Otherwise you'll have to reactivate it, which again, will cost you twenty life points.**_

 _Thanks… I'll keep that in mind. Well, at least you'll be able to help on Lyoko now._

 _ **You're welcome.**_

We stop running as we make it to the oasis.

"So, where is this tower exactly?" Odd asks.

"It's hidden right now. It's here, somewhere," Aelita replies. "Besides, do you see the pulsations?" Aelita asks as she we look at the pulsations again, converging around the area. "They all meet here," she says as she places her hands on her hips.

" _I'm sure you guys can find it! The tower should be close. The pylon is going to be overloaded soon," Jeremy informs,_ masking his panic in his voice.

Ulrich slashes his sword in the sand, as Odd sits down. I sit down myself.

I sigh, trying to think of a way to find the tower. I look at the oasis, its crystal clear image bothering me for some reason.

 _Say Mary… do you think that Oasis is strange?_

 _ **Well… no. Why do you ask?**_

I pick up a rock as Odd continues to toss his rock in the air with his hand. I chuck the rock into the Oasis, as a small beam of light distorts the Oasis.

"Woah…" Odd trails off as he places his rock on the ground. He puts his hand in the Oasis before I can stop him. The Oasis's image continues to disrupt. Odd looks at his hand, and then looks at me, we nod in unison.

"I think we've found it," Odd announces as we get up. This surprises Aelita and Ulrich as they look our way.

"Xana's tricking us. I felt, that something was wrong with this Oasis. I wanted to test out my theory… and it looks like my theory was correct," I explain.

"And, there's no water down there. Just the surface," Odd adds.

"I'll go down first," I insist as I step back a little and prepare to jump.

 _ **Lila… shouldn't you-**_

I start running and headfirst into the Oasis. I keep my feet together and land perfectly. Odd falls next, then Ulrich, and lastly Aelita. We spot the tower which is surrounded by jagged rocks.

 _ **I stand corrected. Well done.**_

We start running to the tower and soon make it to where the jagged rocks are. Soon we are only a few feet away from the tower. Odd points to it.

"There," he says.

A Krab appears and charges its laser. The Krab shoots Odd in the leg, which sparks with electricity.

" _Odd!"_ Jeremy exclaims.

"I hate those horrible Krabs," Odd says.

"Me too. But I think I have something that will take care of them," I say as I take my sword out. I start to chant in Latin.

 _Mary now's our chance. Let's try our new strength spell, as you call it._

 _ **Right. Activating… now. Remember, you have a time limit of one minute. It'll, appear on your father's monitor.**_

 _Right, let's go!_

My muscles enhance, and I stop chanting.

"Lila what are you going to-" Ulrich starts but I interrupt him as I move almost as fast as him when he his using his supersprint.

" _Lila you just lost twenty life points! Be careful with that spell! There's – there's some sort of time limit with it!"_ Jeremy warns. I jump in the air as the Krab tries to charge its laser. I land on the Krab and use my sword to stab the target eye. It starts to fall as I jump onto the ground, it explodes.

"Nice job!" Odd compliments.

"Thanks," I say as I begin to put my sword away. I hear something in the distance, the sounds of moving feet.

 _ **Incoming, don't put your sword away!**_

I ready my sword again as two Krabs appear, one of them fires a laser at me. I quickly block it with my sword, and without the use of strength. I still need to recover from the first use. Ulrich takes out his sword. Odd readies his laser arrows.

"Aelita, it's you they're after. Go on, run," Ulrich says as she gasps and starts running.

"Aelita!" Odd exclaims as another Krab appears and starts chasing after her. It begins to fire at her. Odd runs to help her and throws himself in front of the Krab. The Krab's laser devirtualizes Odd. Ulrich and I quickly move to where Odd was devirtualized, which puts us in front of the three Krabs. Ulrich's Krab fires its laser at Ulrich, who blocks it with his katana blade. My Krab does the same. I block the laser, too.

 _Mary... that magic bomb. How long does it take to charge?_

 _ **Approximately thirty seconds... I'll begin the process now. My powers will channel directly to your staff, but remember you need to start speaking Latin so it'll appear as if you are performing magic.**_

 _Right!_

I begin to chant in Latin. Ulrich notices this as my staff starts to glow purple.

" _Lila! You just lost forty life points with that spell! It looks like your magic is being channeled into your staff for a big attack. If you're hit after the attack, you'll be devirtualized! Ulrich, once she readies her attack, you'll need to defend her!"_

"I'm on it Jeremy. I think I have an idea of how to do it, too," Ulrich says as he starts to use his super speed to distract the Krab's fire. They start to fire on him, as he continues to super speed. It's almost as if he is forming a triangle around them. He creates two clones as he surrounds the Krabs. One of the clones runs at superspeed as he jumps in the air, the Krab fires its laser at him. This causes the Ulrich clone to disappear.

 _ **Lila, the magic bomb is ready!**_

 _Right!_

I take out my staff as I finish chanting. A large, humming ball of energy forms above the staff. With two hands, I swing my staff in the direction of the Krabs.

"Ulrich fuse your clone and get out of there!" I exclaim as the ball of energy starts to head toward the Krabs.

"Right, fusion!" Ulrich exclaims as he fuses back with his clone. He starts using his super speed to run away from the Krabs position. I start running myself. I look back to see the Magic Bomb hitting the Krabs, exploding them. The impact causes a shock wave, knocking Ulrich and I to the ground. Ulrich's body sparks a little, as do my legs. Aelita runs up to us.

"Are you two okay?" Aelita asks as she checks on Ulrich, then me.

"We're fine," I say as we start to get up.

"It's up to you Aelita," Ulrich says as he gets up, gesturing to the tower.

Aelita nods and starts running to the tower. She slowly walks up to it, then phases into it.

"Jeremy how many life points do I have left?" I ask out of curiosity.

" _30\. Your first spell cost you 20, the magic bomb you just unleashed caused you 40. And, the shockwave cost you 10 life points. You're lucky Lila, but we're running out of time. The pylon is almost fully loaded,"_ Jeremy informs.

 _ **This needs to work... although I have a feeling we changed events slightly.**_

 _Maybe the order of events, but not drastically. I have a feeling our interference really doesn't hurt the timeline. I'm starting to think… we will only impact the Lila, that will be born in this future. Our future, has already happened… and I just have this theory…_

 _ **Theory?**_

 _I think my time traveling, will not impact the timeline I left…_

 _ **There's no way of knowing that right now…**_

Ulrich and I look to see the tower changing from its red aura to its blue aura. We sigh in relief.

" _Return to the past... Now!"_

The big white bubble engulfs us all.

 **Earlier the same day**

 **Inside the gymnasium**

My eyes open, and I am now back in the gymnasium. After much collaborating with Odd, we decide to let Jim and Nicholas join the band.

Odd readies his guitar, as ready our instruments. I finish, reading the microphone for Yumi.

"Okay ready, 3, 4, and," Odd begins and we all start playing our instruments. Nicholas plays the drums, as Ulrich plays the piano.

 _"A mystery girl, from another world,"_ Yumi starts.

Jim uses his trombone.

 _This is great… everyone, including my father looks happy. Sissi doesn't look too happy, though, not that I'm surprised. After this… I need to check in on Mary…_ I think, watching everyone perform with my father. He claps, making some sort of joke about the band causing a nuclear explosion. I giggle at that.

 **Afterwards**

 **In Lila's room**

I walk into the room and close the door, I see Mary sitting on the bed. Turning my attention to her she asks,

"How did being a technical assistant turn out?"

"It went well," I reply.

Mary smiles slightly as she looks at me. I can't tell what she's thinking, but it's as if she's concerned about something. But there's a lot to be concerned about when dealing with multiple possibilities, thanks to time travel. Everyone's future is at risk, and the only thing I know for sure is this: I'm going to make sure my future does not come to pass in this timeline.

 **Please review, until next time!**

 **LyokoWarrior1994**

Author's Note: Sorry about the reupload!


	6. Holiday in the Fog

**This chapter was slightly edited by Foxtrek, the rest was edited by AeroJester203. Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko, all copyrighting goes to MoonScoop. I only own my OC Lila. Mary was created by AeroJester203.**

 **Now a special message from a special someone.**

 **Lila Belpois: I want to thank everyone for reading my story! You guys are so wonderful, and we're over 1,000 views now! Incredible just incredible... now I have one question for the author.**

 **Me: What's that?**

 **Lila: Who is going to be my love interest in the story? I'm not going to grow old, and alone after this time travel business. Am I...?**

 **Me: Uh... on with the chapter!**

 **Lila: Hey!**

 _Holiday in the fog_

 **Inside Lila's room**

 **POV Lila's**

It's late at night and I'm in my room with the window open. I stare at the courtyard, waiting for Jeremy and Ulrich to come out. They soon emerge from the dormitory with cans of spray paint in hand. Ulrich and Jeremy begin painting graffiti on a nearby brick wall as part of their plan to get Jeremy a week of detention so he can stay over the holiday. I giggle lightly to myself as I watch the image become complete. I hear Kiwi barking, turning to watch Jim chasing after him. I stifle a laugh at the sight of him in his pajamas.

He sees Jeremy, Ulrich having cleared out once Kiwi was coming.

"Belpois, what are you doing out so late?" the gym teacher asks. Jim notices the graffiti on the wall, pointing to it angrily, "Is _that_ supposed to mean something?"

Jeremy smiles sheepishly in his act. Meanwhile, I look at the completed graffiti of a cartoonish caricature of Jim's face with bunny ears, goofy eyes and giving the peace sign with his right hand.

I close the window since I am no long able to hold my laughter. Mary comes out of my phone as she transforms into her human form.

"It's not funny you know," she says with a twinge of annoyance.

"It is," I giggle as I sit on the bed. "My father never told me he was such a good artist."

The AI rolls her eyes with a half-fond smile, "There's a lot of things I'm sure you're he didn't tell you. I will let you rest. Have a good night, Lila." Mary, transforms back into her smoke like form as she enters my phone.

I nod, with a smile, "You too, Mary."

I turn off my lamp as Mary retreats back into the phone, and then lie on my bed as I try to fall asleep.

 **The next day**

 **Inside Mr. Delmas's office**

The next day, Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, and I are outside Mr. Delmas's office. His secretary is typing on the computer and I look at the nametag on her jacket, Nicole Weber. She has a dark blonde hair, wears glasses, and is wearing a brown suit with matching work pants. The door to Mr. Delmas's office opens and Jeremy emerges with the principal behind him, having opened the door.

"Jeremy, I hope you'll learn from this. You're always a model student," Mr. Delmas says as he looks at Jeremy. "This was a very shameful act you committed."

"I... I agree..." Jeremy trails off, nodding. Mr. Delmas closes his door.

 **Afterwards**

We're outside of the office now, and we all surround Jeremy the four of us start talking over each other.

"Okay, okay," Jeremy says stopping us. "I've been given a whole week's worth of detention, during vacation." As he leads us out into the hallway outside the office, he leans against the wall, letting out a discouraged puff of air. Odd moves over, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Awesome, we should be glad he has a low tolerance," I smile.

Odd chuckles, "That's for sure."

"Jeremy, you're the king of punishments," Ulrich compliments.

"There's no way we could have done better," Yumi adds. I nod, smiling to him,

"I won't let Xana rest while I am here," Jeremy says.

"I know you won't, and you mean _we_ won't let Xana rest. I'll be here to keep you company too. My mother is going away on a business trip, so I'll be staying here during vacation week," I lie as we walk out of the hallway.

 **Later**

An hour later, I walk alongside them as we head toward the main gate. Ulrich, Odd and Yumi have their bags with them as we start walking. We move towards the main gate through a small wooded area on the school grounds, discussing our plans for the break. There is an unspoken tension in the air, anxiousness about the possibility of an attack by Xana, especially with so many of us gone.

Ulrich turns to Odd, disgruntled with his week's plans. "Odd gets to travel to see his folks, halfway across the globe. Yumi gets to vacation in the mountains. You know what I'm doing? Math tutoring for the entire vacation!"

Odd lets out a rambunctious laugh as he places his hand on Ulrich's shoulder.

"One week to make you a good student? The chances of that are, well, like winning the lotto. They'll need all the luck they can get," he jokes.

Ulrich looks at us and smiles, Odd's jab cheering him up a bit.

"Will you and Lila be okay without us?" Yumi asks.

"I'm sure we will be. Should Xana leave us alone, I'll have time to work on the materialization program for Aelita," Jeremy answers.

"I'll be able to help too," I offer, "if you need it."

"Jeremy and Lila aren't the only ones staying at school alone. I'll be looking after them as their guardian angel."

I grimace hearing the voice, turning to see who spoke. Namely Elisabeth "Sissi" Delmas, the self-proclaimed "diva of the school." She stands ahead of us on the path with a hand on her hip and a sly smile on her face.

Odd snorts, "You two must be thrilled."

"Yeah, overjoyed," I reply with a roll of my eyes. Looking further ahead, we see Jim approaching as he angrily crosses his arms together as he regards my father.

"Do you think that wall you graffitied is going to clean itself? Jeremy, I want you to start cleaning it now!" Jim demands.

Sissi can't help but laugh at Jeremy's situation, but it draws the man's attention to her.

"You think that's funny young lady? Your father wants me to keep an eye on you while you study, and that's exactly what I will do!" he exclaims as Sissi stops laughing.

Jim then turns to me, gesturing over his shoulder with his thumb, "Your mother wants to see you, she waiting by the principal's office, before she leaves for her big trip."

"Uh, thanks Jim," I say as he nods. Jim takes Jeremy and Sissi together, the three of them walking away.

"Well... I guess math tutoring can't be _that_ bad," Ulrich says.

I smile and wave goodbye to him along with Odd and Yumi, "True. Well, I should go and meet my mom. See you guys in a week."

"Bye, Lila," they say back.

 _Assuming I know Mary, she's probably not waiting for me by the principal's office. She's probably in my room_ , I think while heading back my room..

 **Inside Lila's Room**

I open the door to find Mary waiting for me.

"Jim said you needed me?" I ask as I close the door. "Also, did you talk to Delmas?"

She turns to me, "I did yes. With everyone going away, I figured I should tell him and Jim, that I'll be going on a vacation. I was wondering... would you like to go on vacation too?"

"Hmm... it would be nice, I already told the others you'd be going on one by yourself. But you know, Mary, if you do actually want to go out and explore France a bit, I'm sure it would be okay."

Mary nods, "I was hoping you would say that. I think I'll go out and buy myself a phone. I'll be leaving now."

She transforms into her smoke-like form as she floats into a plug behind her and integrates into the network of the school. I can't have her leave through the window since Jeremy, Jim and Sissi are outside.

 **Later**

Later at night, I plug in the phone Mary bought for herself, my guardian having returned to my phone after scouting out the city. I stretch my body tired from setting up at the device. Yawning, I happen to look at my diary on the desk.

I decide to write some more in it either tomorrow or the next day before turning the lights off and lying down to fall asleep.

 **The next day**

After starting my day, I get a call from Jeremy to meet him at the factory. Once we meet, going into the freight elevator, he explains about what he saw—a bizarre incident while he was trying to sneak out to the factory last night.

"Are you sure there's something going on in the school?" I ask him.

"I'm positive. I know what I saw last night, it was some sort of weird smoke," Jeremy replies. "It moved on its own and tried to envelop me."

 _Smoke... hmm..._ I think curiously.

The freight elevator's doors opens revealing the lab and we walk up to Jeremy's chair, he sits in it. He opens several windows up on the monitor, making calculations of his hypothesis.

"We're in trouble... Those spilled bottles that I told you about, holds a large amount of a concentrated and toxic substance," he explains. "If the calculations are right on the computer the substance may even...

"May even...?" I prompt. When he doesn't answer, I ask again, despite having a good idea of the answer. "The gas can what?"

 _This substance reminds me of a poisonous one, which my father told me Xana used in order to choke all the world's leaders in ten minutes flat. My father didn't have Lyoko at the time to stop it from happening because Xana had already obliterated the factory_

"If someone inhales the gas for a long period of time... it can be deadly," Jeremy responds.

"No way..." I trail off.

Jeremy starts typing up command keys to locate the tower. The holosphere of Lyoko appears on the computer as it locates the tower.

"Aelita, I'm sending you the coordinates to the tower. It's 37 degrees south and it's located in the forest area. We're going to wait for the others, but if you need help, I'll send you Lila for backup right now just in case," my father says.

Aelita's window pops up, "I'll wait for her, then we'll be on our way. I'm too far from the tower, so it's going to take time. We'll need help," Aelita says.

"I think I know three certain somebodies who would gladly end their vacations short," Jeremy muses while turning to me.

"Lila, can you head to the scanners now?"

"Right," I nod as I run back to the elevator and get in. I press the red button once the door closes to have it bring me down to the scanner room.

 **Inside the scanner room**

The freight elevator's doors open. I run to the middle scanner.

I step into the scanner, and it closes as Jeremy announces,

 _"Transfer: Lila."_

 _"Scanner: Lila,"_ he continues as he the scanner spins and starts to whir.

" _Virtualization!"_

I close my eyes as the gush of wind envelops me, billowing my hair and necklace before I'm virtualized to Lyoko.

 **Lyoko's Desert Sector**

I open my eyes as I appear in the desert sector; landing safely on the virtual barren ground. Aelita is running towards me and I move to meet her halfway.

"Hi, Lila. There's a deactivated tower nearby that we can use to get to the forest sector," Aelita explains.

"Right, let's go!" I reply as Aelita and I start running.

 _ **Technically speaking you shouldn't be on Lyoko right now...**_ Mary reminds me from within.

 _I know...this is sort of changing events, but not dramatically. I just hope my memories won't affect me again..._

 _ **Truth be told... I don't think they will. I chose a scenario from your childhood. You did suffer from anxiety and fainting spells with small crowds before Xana destroyed a lot of places you and your father frequented, she explains. I'm not sure why your father didn't specify the source of your trauma you experienced. But it must be caused by your something that occurred in your past, and the trauma of that experience has repressed your memories of it.**_

 _I see... so you didn't just make up the anxiety and fainting spells._

 _ **No I didn't... I needed to provide you with a validated medical condition. Rather, than making one up. The fainting spells, just happened to have good timing was all.**_

 _True I suppose..._

"Everything okay, Lila?" Aelita asks me as we reach the tower, which is enclosed by a platform. "You're unusually quiet."

"Sorry, Aelita. Just deep in thought," I reply, trying to focus so that she doesn't suspect anything.

Aelita nods as she enters the tower first with me following her in. Together we light the platform as we move to the edge. She dives down first before I descend next. We fly through a stream of data before rising up as we reach another platform and land on it, lighting it up before we exit the tower.

"Jeremy, we just made it to the forest sector," Aelita informs.

 _"Yumi and Odd are in the scanners,"_ Jeremy replied." _Keep your eyes open and stay safe. Knowing Xana, there are more than a few monsters lurking around there. Lila, I've just noticed something strange. It appears you've gain two new spells. They seem, to affect your life points dramatically._ "

After a brief pause, he adds, _"I'm going to go to the school to make sure Jim and Sissi are okay. They could be in trouble, and I should warn them."_

Aelita and I start running in the direction of the activated tower.

"Stay safe Jeremy, please!" I call.

 _"I will,"_ Jeremy responds.

We continue running towards the activated tower for some time, following the pulsations until we see Yumi and Odd by themselves ahead of us.

"Which way should we go?" Odd asks Yumi.

"This way; follow me," Aelita answers as she reveals herself from behind the digital tree with me beside her.

"Lila, looks like you got here early," Yumi notes. "Did you see any monsters on your way here?"

"No. None, surprisingly," I reply.

We hear metallic scuttling sounds and turn to see a group of Kankrelats approaching us.

"Well, they're here now!" Odd exclaims while cocking his paw.

The monsters start firing their lasers, making us split up to dodge. I take my staff out to block them with the sharp end as I begin chanting to charge up my fire bolts.

 _"I'm not trying to rush you guys, but things are getting rough over here,"_ Jeremy informs. "I _met Ulrich on the way to school, and he took over from there, but according to the news, the toxic gas is starting to spread."_

"What do you think we're doing? Sunbathing?" Odd jokes as he gracefully dodges a laser by twirling away, aiming low to the ground on one knee as he fires a laser arrow, destroying one.

I finish chanting before unleashing several fire bolts at the same time that Yumi throws her fan. My fire bolts and Yumi's fan take care of three Kankrelats.

Odd does several handstands as he dodges the incoming lasers from his monsters.

"Odd, be careful!" Yumi warns.

Odd continues to do his handstands before he gets hit by a laser, throwing him back to the ground. Aelita tries to sneak to where Odd is and manages to get to him, but the Kankrelat releases a laser.

Before I can react, Yumi throws herself into the line of fire, causing her body to spark once the blast hits. But Aelita remains unharmed as she falls back with sparks emerging from the impact area.

 _"Are you feeling okay, Yumi?"_ Jeremy asks.

"I'll be fine. There's no physical pain on Lyoko, after all," Yumi reminds him.

 _"Keep Aelita safe,"_ Jeremy says.

I start to chant in latin as I charge my sword with fire. The fire begins to gradually surround the blade, but the Kankrelat quickly fires another round of lasers, hitting my hand and sending it flying from my grip as the flames go out without my magic to sustain them.

 _Come back to me,_ I command to my sword using my attraction spell. The sword hovers an inch off the ground before flying back to me. I grab it and place it back in its sheath. Odd, Yumi, Aelita, and I go for cover behind a tree.

 _"The tower is accessible, if you get past the tree bridge. All you need to do is take care of the monsters. Also, Lila you just lost ten life points with your attraction spell along with another ten from that hand shot,"_ Jeremy informs.

 _ **The attraction spell really is costly**_ , Mary remarks.

 _Yes it is... but I think I'm about to do something that'll even cost me more life points_ _._

"I think I may have an idea. I can try my new magic bomb spell, but it's going to zap a lot of my life points away," I say.

"How much time do you need for your spell?" Yumi asks.

I think for a bit before answering, "About thirty seconds, give or take."

Internally, I communicate, _Mary, on my signal, start the activation._

 _ **I will. Please keep in mind, this "spell", will take away at least twenty more of your life points. Perhaps more, if you cannot get away from the blast in time.**_

 _I remember._

"I think I have a quicker idea," Yumi suggests. "Lila, Odd, you two should take care of Aelita."

 _Never mind, Mary... another time_ , I say in my head.

 _ **I heard.**_

"Laser flash!" Odd exclaims as he leans around the tree and fires his laser arrow at the Kankrelat, destroying it.

I take my staff and use my attraction spell, telepathically commanding it to attack the Kankrelat. It zooms through the air and hits it in the eye of Xana, ripping through to the other side and causing it to explode. Maneuvering it in a sharp turn, I make it come back to me as Aelita and Odd run out from our cover with me following them.

 _"Lila, that attack with your spell just now cost you twenty life points. You're down to sixty,"_ Jeremy informs.

"No way, it cost me twenty?!" I exclaim in disbelief as I catch the staff at its center.

Mary surmises, **Ten to send it out, and ten more to bring it back perhaps, if you use it too much?**

 _That stinks!_ I mentally complain while looking back to check on Yumi. _I controlled it to fly in one path; that should mean that it only uses ten life points!_

 _ **Magic can be strange Lila,**_ Mary comments.

Two Kankrelats remain as Yumi places her hands on her head. She starts her telekinesis, as her body gains a light pink aura that surrounds her. She focuses on a large rock close by, moving it towards her. She releases the rock to thud to the ground and jumps on it for a higher vantage point as she throws her fan. But her attack misses, and the Kankrelat shoots its laser at Yumi. We see her spark as we continue to run. The other Kankrelat fires at Yumi as well before we can't see her anymore from the distance and the obscuring trees.

 _"One more hit and Yumi will..."_ Jeremy trails off.

Aelita, Odd and I continue running as we make it to the tree bridge and cross it to find the tower on a plateau, unreachable without climbing up.

 _"Hurry up, you three!_ " Jeremy exclaims. " _Jim was just on Ulrich's phone; he's passed out and they're running out of air in their hiding place!"_

We stare at the tower as Aelita is not capable of reaching it at any quick pace. I briefly contemplate sending Aelita up with my staff, but I could already hear the skittering metal legs. She'd be way too vulnerable out in the open where we couldn't defend her. But then I remember some of the more obscure abilities that my father and surrogate aunt and uncles told me about growing up.

"I can deal with this, take care of the monsters," Aelita replies as we see the two Kankrelats from earlier as they approach us from the bridge. Yumi must've been devirtualized.

"Wait. I think I have a quicker way," I offer as I draw both my weapons and stand in front of Aelita. "Odd, climb up there and get ready to catch Aelita."

"You kidding?" he asks incredulously. "That's a climb straight up with no handholds."

"Trust me; you're a cat. Cats climb," I insist without turning away from the approaching enemies.

Odd looks at his paw hands contemplatively for a moment and up at the wall of the plateau before jumping as high as he can and hooking his claws on the surface, surprised for only a moment before the sound of lasers firing makes him scamper up at a faster pace. I do my best to guard Aelita and myself as she stays behind me with my weapons redirecting the blasts.

A moment later, Odd calls,"Ready!"

With a deep breath, I throw my staff towards the monsters, seizing control of it mid-flight to make it sweep horizontally into the Kankrelats, knocking them off their feet and onto their backs before they flop to their sides due to their odd bodies. They start writhing their legs in an attempt to make themselves turn to aim at us again from their prone positions, but I got the diversion I needed as my staff clattered to the ground behind them.

 _Fifty,_ I internally count down my life points.

Turning around and sheathing my sword, I cup my hands and say, "Get ready, I'll give you a boost with strength." I chant in latin as Mary begins activating the power-up and Aelita rushes at me. It hits right as Aelita puts her foot in my grip, and I throw her up to be barely caught by Odd, who pulls her up and lets her into the tower.

 _Thirty_

I hear the lasers charging from the Kankrelats on the ground, but I just smile before they hit me in the back, devirtualizing me on the spot. I did my job, and we won the fight today.

"Zero," I mutter.

 **Inside the scanner room**

I lean against the wall of the scanner, the scanner opens. Another scanner opens, with Odd giving a thumbs up. After finally catching our breath, the white bubble of a return to the past envelops us.

 **The previous night**

Opening my eyes, I realize it's the previous the night, and I look out my open window.

I watch Jeremy and Ulrich from afar as they graffiti the wall again. This time however, Ulrich is staying behind. I hear barking, as Kiwi is running outside again, Jim trying to chase him.

"Come back here! I'll get you!" Jim exclaims as I see Jeremy and Ulrich smiling. I close the window and sit down on the bed as I take out my cell phone.

Mary expels herself from it, and changes into her human form.

"Are you going to go back and get your cell phone again this time?" I ask.

"Maybe in time I will. Not tonight though. How are you feeling? Any side effects from continuing to the change timeline slightly?" she asks.

"Not that I can I think of. Do you... think it's possible that ever since I first entered this timeline, and became a Lyoko warrior, that... I no longer have memories of my future at all?" I ask unsurely.

Mary stares at me for a while before sitting on the bed with me.

She sighs, "You have the same intelligence as your father that's for sure. Lila... the truth is most of my memories have been corrupted for some time now. I believe this may be the cause of a grandfather paradox. We still know of the bad future, and your father, because we were in the time machine. If we had been in the eye of the storm... we wouldn't be here now."

"So my father, he's- he's," I stammer unable to form the sentence.

"He's gone," Mary nods, confirming my question. Tears start to drip from my eyes and onto my cheeks as Mary gives me a hug, trying to comfort me.

 **Author's note: Check out my new poll, concerning the future of Lila's love life in this story, and let me know if you like the idea of the pairing I have in mind.**

 **Also, I didn't want to leave Future Jeremy's death, on a cliff hanger throughout this story. I figured, this would be the easiest way to confirm it. Don't forget to review!**

 **LyokoWarrior1994**


	7. Even a samurai keeps a diary

**This chapter was written by me and edited by Ana-DaughterofHades. This chapter was also edited by UndeadMonkey8. He has a really cool story called Code: Cameron, I highly recommend it!**

 **Disclaimer: Code Lyoko and all characters from Code Lyoko belong to MoonScoop.**

 **I only own my OC Lila. Mary was created by AeroJester203.**

 **Enjoy!**

 _Even a samurai keeps a diary_

 **In Lila's room**

 **POV Lila's**

"Why?! Why wouldn't you tell me this sooner?" I ask, upset at the news I've just been given.

"I needed to confirm. With your anxiety and fainting spells suddenly stopping, I assumed it was because of a grandfather paradox. I searched my memory data banks, and most of my memories stored in those data banks have been erased."

"I didn't ask for this you know! I didn't ask to be a time traveler! It was supposed to a quick trip in the time machine!" I exclaim at Mary, becoming angry with her.

"I know. But your father was on the verge of death from the Xana bot Lila. When your timeline was erased, it technically saved your father from dying. He's gone yes, but in a way, he ceased to exist. That version of your father will be gone forever," Mary tries to explain. I shake my head.

"Please I've had enough for today."

"I understand," Mary nods, and transforms into her smoke like form. She integrates herself into my phone which is on my desk. Sighing, I go to turn the lights off and decide to go to bed.

 **One week later, after vacation**

 **In Ulrich and Odd's room**

Odd and I are in his and Ulrich's room as he frantically looks around in his drawers for a misplaced object.

Odd rubs his stomach. "Ulrich, come on. I'm getting hungry let's go and eat."

"Uh, I can't. You two should go and have breakfast. I'm going to be a while. There's something I have to find," Ulrich frets.

"Do you need any help?" I ask.

"No, thanks. It's something... personal," Ulrich answers.

Odd shrugs. "If you say so," he says, before stepping out. I give a last glance around the room before following.

 **In the cafeteria**

We're in the cafeteria, as Odd finishes his entire breakfast. Odd sighs in relief as he finishes his breakfast. This consisted of heated bread and several bananas. The peels are all over the table.

 _Heated bread is a bit weird… and what was that smooth stuff? Didn't look tasty…_ I think.

"That was great! You can't go wrong with eight slices of toast with butter and three bananas. Am I right?" Odd asks. Jeremy takes a piece of his bread, hardly looking up from his book.

 _Oh... so that's what that stuff is called, yuck,_ I think.

"Hey, are you going to skip gym class again?" Odd asks Jeremy.

"Of course. Besides, this will give me more time to work on the materialization program for Aelita," Jeremy answers.

I look at him and back at my bowl, sitting quietly. Apparently not quick enough, because he notices.

"Are you okay, Lila?" Jeremy asks as he places his book on the table.

"Not particularly hungry today," I lie since I am still dealing with the news of my father's death. It's hard though, with his younger version right in front of me.

"Mind if I have your bowl?" Odd asks.

"Sure, be my guest," I reply sliding my bowl.

"Cool!" he exclaims happily, making me giggle a little.

 **Later**

 **In the courtyard**

After breakfast, the bells start ringing; signaling the beginning of the day. Odd, Jeremy, and I are by a tree in the courtyard, and we're watching everyone pass by. We see Yumi enter the courtyard.

"Hi Yumi," Jeremy greets. Yumi smiles as she walks over to us.

"Hello," Yumi says. We return the smile before something catches her attention. "That's strange, look over there; it's Ulrich."

Peeking from behind the tree, we see Ulrich with Sissi. He looks upset, but she seems relatively happy standing on the steps and admiring him.

"Why, is he hanging around with Sissi?" I ask.

"Ulrich, over here!" Odd calls out.

Odd waves at him as Sissi gets close to Ulrich's face. We can't hear what Sissi and Ulrich are saying, but she grabs him by his hand. "Let's go!" she exclaims as she pulls him up, shocking all of us.

 **Later**

 **In History class**

Later we're in Mr. Fumet's history class. Sissi looks at Ulrich while he has his eyes down, ignoring her. He continues writing down notes.

 _What's going on with him?_ I think, trying to concentrate on writing notes. I keep glancing back and forth, at Ulrich and Sissi.

"During the seventeenth century, all European states were governed by either a king or a prince," Mr. Fumet speaks. Jeremy is writing down his notes when Odd asks,

"Hey, what do you think is going on with them? I mean, I must be dreaming or something," Odd whispers. "Ulrich and Sissi; together? That's one of Ulrich's worst nightmares." He turns to Herb.

"Then again, Herb is jealous," he continues as Jeremy stops taking notes. He looks at Herb. Odd smiles at Herb.

"Did you hear a word I just said Odd?" Mr. Fumet calls, catching him.

"Huh?" Odd asks. He turns to Mr. Fumet.

"Were you listening to my lesson, at all Odd?" Mr. Fumet asks, and Odd smiles nervously and rubs the back of his head.

 **After class**

 **Under the arches**

The bells ring, signaling class is over. Jeremy, Odd, and I wait for Ulrich and Sissi. Odd leaves to prepare a distraction for Sissi, so that Jeremy and I can talk to Ulrich. They soon come out, arm in arm.

"Sissi come on, let's talk for a few minutes," Odd insists as he grabs Sissi from the other side of the doorway.

"Hey! Wait a minut-!" Sissi exclaims. Odd pulls her away from Ulrich.

"Care to explain?" Jeremy asks.

"Well…" Ulrich trails off.

Ulrich looks over to Sissi as Odd is preoccupying her.

"So, what's the sitch?" I ask.

"Okay, here's the thing... I'm in a jam. See for years I've uh…" Ulrich mutters something underneath his breath.

"What did you say?" Jeremy asks crossing his arms.

"I own a diary okay?! And here's the thing, Sissi found it. She's using it to blackmail me and by making me go out with her," he explains as he looks over at Sissi as she and Odd are still talking.

"She thinks she can win me over this way, but it won't work," Ulrich says. He looks over at Sissi as she and Odd are still talking.

"Wait a second. In your diary, did you talk about Xana? Or Lyoko?" Jeremy asks.

"You didn't keep the diary locked?" I ask.

"Well yeah, I did talk about that. No, I only hid the diary somewhere that I thought was safe," Ulrich explains. "Sissi's going to tell everyone, about everything, and it's my fault. I'm not sure what to do."

Jeremy puts his hand on Ulrich's shoulder.

"Rest assured Ulrich. Yumi, Lila, and I will look around. Don't worry, we're going to find your diary," Jeremy reassures him. Looking over to Sissi, and Odd they seem to be finishing their conversation.

"Will you leave me alone already?! I already told you, I do not plan on dyeing my hair blonde!" she exclaims.

"But I think blonde hair will look really good on you," Odd says.

Sissi scowls at him in frustration.

Ulrich looks at Sissi and Odd as he calls out,

"Something tells me she's had enough. Leave her alone Odd," Ulrich orders walking up to them. He takes Sissi by the arms as she smiles happily, blowing a raspberry at us. I roll my eyes, and she turns her focus back on Ulrich. Walking together, she puts her head against Ulrich's, leaning on him.

"Don't worry; we'll explain," Jeremy reassures Odd, putting his hand on Odd's shoulder.

 **Later**

 **In Jeremy's room**

Later, Jeremy and I are in his room as we are sitting on his bed, explaining the situation to Yumi.

Yumi gasps. Seeing she looks like she's going to hit something, I place Jeremy's pillow, next to the wall. She punches the pillow.

"I knew Sissi was obsessed with Ulrich, but to go this far. She's really blackmailing him?"

"I know right? Love makes people blind I guess," I say.

"The most important thing to do now is to find that diary. Otherwise, she'll start talking about Lyoko, and the factory," Jeremy says. "We'll probably end up on the front-page news of Kadic and… I don't even want to imagine the number of inquiries the police will make us go through."

"It won't happen, we're going to make sure of it," I say.

Yumi unclenches her hand, trying to calm herself down.

"Lila and I will check out her room. If we need any help, we'll let you know," Yumi decides.

"I'll be at the factory," Jeremy says getting off the bed. We hop into our shoes and leave the room. Yumi grabs her bag from the floor. Shouldering it onto her, we leave the room.

 **Outside Jeremy's room**

Jeremy closes the door. We look at each other.

"Best of luck," we say in unison. Yumi and I start running.

 _I just hope Ulrich and Odd will be okay on that bus..._ I think with concern.

 **Inside Sissi's room**

Reaching Sissi's room, Yumi takes out her hair braid clip. She fashions it into a lockpick.

"How did you learn how to do that?" I ask.

"Hiroki, my younger brother. He likes to take my stuff from time to time. So, I had to learn how to steal it back from. Being around a younger brother, you need to be prepared," Yumi explains.

"Wouldn't know, I'm an only child."

Yumi's braid pick unlocks the door and she smiles. Putting the braid in her pocket, she opens the door. We walk inside. Yumi checks the closet.

 _I keep mine in the desk draws, so I wonder…_ I think, walking to her desk. I open the draws one by one. They're filled with romance books, a few notebooks for class, which is a surprise. And, a few pens, but no diary. Yumi gasps, and I turn around. Yumi is holding a pillow in the form of a Valentine heart and gasps.

"Looks like we found it!" she exclaims. I walk to the bed, sitting on the bed with her. I notice that the diary is pink with a yellow pattern on it.

"Nice job," I compliment.

"Thanks," Yumi smiles unzipping the pillow. She takes out the unmarked diary, which looks to be pink and has a yellow pattern on it.

"Something tells me that's not Ulrich's," I say, giggling slightly.

"Ooh, you're right… definitely, Sissi's," Yumi nods, chuckling herself.

Yumi opens the diary, noticing the writing is different. Sitting down with her, she flips through the diary. Yumi gasps, seeing a photo of Ulrich in it. His name has been drawn around the picture several times. I look at the entry, reading it in my mind.

 _"Ulrich always gives me the cold shoulder. He never treats me the same way, he treats Yumi. One day, when he was at lunch, I went to look around in his and Odd's room. I wanted to find a picture of Ulrich, but as luck would have it, I found something far better. Now he can't possibly ignore me. I know what I'm doing isn't nice, but it's the only way I can get his attention."_

After reading the entry, I feel the sudden urge to punch something myself.

"She frustrates me!" Yumi exclaims furiously.

I nod in agreement, "She's awful."

 **In the stairwell**

We leave Sissi's room and begin walking down the stairs. Yumi takes her phone out to call Jeremy. There's a short pause.

"We ended up finding Sissi's diary," Yumi informs him, "You were right to be concerned. She knows about Lyoko, but she doesn't seem to understand everything. It doesn't matter to her though, she's going to use Ulrich's diary as evidence." she continues, as we're now reaching the bottom of the stairs. I can't hear the other side of their conversation, but Yumi finishes it with,

"It'll be okay Jeremy. I have an idea."

 **The girl's bathroom**

We decide to go to the girl's bathroom downstairs I open the door. Yumi goes in first and I close it behind her.

"What's the plan Yumi?" I ask.

"Well, we have Sissi's diary right?"

"Yeah."

"So let's use her diary, against her."

"Ah okay, we're blackmailing her with her own diary. Nice," I compliment. Yumi takes out her cell phone and dials Sissi's number, calling her.

"Hi, Sissi…" Yumi begins. "You know Sissi, Lila and I really like your style," she starts to imitate Sissi. "Bumping into Jim today, I saw him wearing that idiotic gym suit of his," there's a short pause.

"Where is it Sissi? Tell me where you hid Ulrich's diary, otherwise, I'm going to have Lila spill all your dirty secrets to Milly and Tamiya. And you'll be on front page of the Kadic News," Yumi threatens.

 _Please let this work,_ I think.

"The third stall," Yumi whispers.

I go to the third stall, opening the door. I stand on top of the closed toilet, and with my hand, I search the toiletry. Grabbing something, I smile and I hop off of the toilet. I look at the diary, the color is green and it appears to be Ulrich's.

"I've got it!" I exclaim.

"Great! Bye Sissi, have a fun time at the pool," Yumi says, opening the door she turns to me. She puts her cell phone into her pocket.

"When Ulrich and Odd come back from their trip, you can give this to Ulrich. I'll take care of Sissi's diary," I smile. Yumi hands me Sissi's diary, and opens her bag. Handing Ulrich's diary to her, she places Ulrich's diary; neatly and carefully in her bag.

"Thanks, Lila," Yumi smiles.

 **Later**

 **Under the arches**

After putting Sissi's diary back into her room, Yumi and I are now under the arches. She and some other students are waiting to go to their classes.

 _It's nice not having to take gym class. Having fainting spells in this past, Mary persuaded Mr. Delmas at the beginning of the semester, that it wouldn't be a good idea to take gym class. And, this free time I have can be used for studying. But if I ever feel like I'm up for participating in gym class, I can,_ I think.

Her phone rings and Yumi picks it up. After a short pause, she ends the call.

"Everything okay?" I ask.

"Jeremy needs us at the factory," Yumi answers.

"Right. Let's get going then," I nod. We start running in the park to get to the woods.

 **Afterwards**

We run to our secret manhole entrance in the woods near the school. Yumi pulls the cover off moving it to the side. She goes down first, and I follow her after, closing the cover. I climb down the ladder. Yumi takes out her skateboard as I grab my scooter. We start running, she pulls her skateboard back and throws it. She lets it gain momentum as it starts moving before she jumps on it at the same time. I get onto my scooter. We start making our way to the end of the tunnel.

 **Inside the factory**

We soon reach the factory and hurry inside. Swinging down on the ropes, we land on the floor and run to the freight elevator. Reaching it, I press the elevator button and the freight elevator's hanger doors close.

 **Inside the lab**

We exit the freight elevator. Yumi, carefully places the bag down on the floor. Jeremy begins typing on the keyboard.

"Hurry to the scanners. The situation is getting worse. The bus Ulrich and Odd are on, seems to be out of control. I'm going to launch a program and try to localize it. Head for the scanners," Jeremy says.

"Where do you think Xana is taking the bus?" I ask.

Jeremy looks at me.

"Nowhere good, knowing him."

 **In the scanner room**

Yumi takes the middle scanner and I take the one on the left. We step in, and they close.

 _"Transfer: Yumi, Transfer: Lila."_ Closing my eyes, the scanner starts spinning.

 _"Scanner Yumi, Scanner: Lila."_

The scanner continues to spin and starts humming.

 _"Virtualization!"_

The gust of wind and bright light envelopes me, and I'm virtualized to Lyoko.

 **Desert Sector**

With my vision returning, Yumi and I land safely in the Desert Sector. Yumi already has her fan in her hand, she extends it.

"Yumi! Lila!" Aelita calls out as we turn to face her. She waves as she starts running to us; we run to her as well. Yumi places her fan back within the knot of the sash, that is at her waist.

"I spotted the tower earlier. We're not too far from it, but we need to be quick," Aelita reminds us.

"Right!" I exclaim.

Letting Aelita take the lead, we start running in the direction of the tower.

"Hey, I noticed that you didn't have your cell phone on you today. Everything okay?" Yumi asks.

"I had a fight with my mom," I reply.

"O,h I see sorry to hear that," Yumi says.

"Thanks…" I trail off.

Aelita looks at me with concern, turning forward she focuses on running.

 _"You three should be approaching the tower soon."_

We continue running as we slide down a jagged rock. We're now within eyesight of the tower. Aelita is about to run to the tower, but Yumi and I hold our hands up.

"This is strange, there haven't been any monsters," Yumi says and pulls her fan out, from the knot, fully extending it. I take my staff out of its sheath.

"She's right. Xana's probably trying to trap us," I say.

We start to hear a noise from behind us. We look behind to see some sort of sandstorm approaching.

"A sandstorm!" Aelita exclaims and we gasp.

"It looks more like a tornado," Yumi comments. We start running from it.

"Jeremy, we've got a problem!" I inform him. I sheath my staff back in its sheath.

 _"Make that two! There's a monster behind you!"_

Looking behind us, all we see is the sandstorm. We continue to run, but it envelopes us. The sandstorm starts to worsen our eyesight.

" _Watch out! You're getting close to the edge!"_ the sandstorm continues to push us.

 _"Incoming, it's a megatank!"_

Hearing a faint, rolling sound I hear the Megatank opening up. A red light, shines through the sandstorm. It unleashes its laser in a wave. Seeing the incoming wave, Yumi and I grab Aelita; pushing her to the side and making her tumble. She yelps, hitting the ground and tumbling away from the edge. We roll away, from the laser just in time. Aelita somehow manages to stop herself, from tumbling. Yumi and I get back up. Spotting her pink hair, through the sandstorm; we push through it and help Aelita up.

"Sorry about that Aelita," Yumi says.

"It's okay, good reaction timing," Aelita compliments.

"If we start running in this sandstorm, we'll never make it. Yumi stand your ground," I request and I take my staff out.

"What are you going to do?" Yumi asks, taking out her fan and extending it, she covers Aelita. I start chanting in Latin.

"Exardesco! Exardesco!" I chant, letting my amulet glowing. The glow shines across the desert field and causes the megatank to charge it's laser directly at me.

"Yumi, now!" I exclaim, my amulet starting to fade. Focusing her fan, Yumi throws it at the growing laser. The fan slashes the Xana eye, causing the Megatank to explode. The fan comes back to Yumi, and she catches it. The gush of wind starts to fade and eventually stops.

" _Great teamwork you two!"_ Jeremy compliments. _"Odd and Ulrich are still stuck on the bus. It's getting closer and closer, and it seems to be heading to a chemical plant."_

"A chemical plant?!" Yumi exclaims.

" _Yes. I'm trying to relay some information, that will help the bus not plunge, Odd, Ulrich, Sissi, Jim and our fellow classmates to their deaths. Unfortunately, all I can do is provide them with a safe route to the chemical plant. But, we'll need to stop Xana before they reach it. So step on it, if you can."_

"Right, we're on it!" I exclaim and we start running to the tower. Making our way to the tower, we glance to our side seeing the wires continuing to pulse and glow red.

"We're getting closer," Aelita informs.

"Maybe we can-" Yumi says, and is hit by several lasers She hits the ground hard, her body sparking.

"Yumi!" I exclaim, and I signal Aelita to get behind me. Standing my ground, I take my staff out and aim it at the two bloks ahead of me.

" _Yumi's lost a lot of life points with those attacks! If she's hit again, it'll be up to you to take care of the Bloks!"_

I begin chanting in Latin, and my amulet starts glowing, signaling my magic is fully charged up.

"Exardesco, Exardesco, Exardesco, Exardesco!" I swing my staff, throwing four Fire Bolts and keeping in mind that I have a limit. The Fire Bolts fly, reaching the Bloks. The first three Fire Bolts, hit the Blok destroying it. The second Blok, moves to the side just in time to miss the other Fire Bolt. It starts to charge its laser blue, which usually means an ice blast. The Blok fires the laser at me, and I ready myself to take the blow for Aelita. Yumi lands on the ground, in front of us. The ice blast hits her, freezing her and then unfreezes. She devirtualizes instantly.

"Yumi!" Aelita gasps, the blok starts to charge its laser at her. Dropping my staff, I unsheathe my sword. I run at the Blok, and swing my sword at it. My sword slashes the Blok and it is destroyed. I sheathe my sword, and walk back to my staff. Picking it up, I put it back in its sheathe.

"Let's save our friends," Aelita says. I nod.

 **At the activated tower**

Aelita walks into the tower's "doorway," and she phases in. Looking up, I see the tower's red aura soon turning to blue.

" _Return to the past now!"_

A big white bubble envelopes everything, sending us back in time.

 **Earlier that same day**

 **Back in Jeremy's room**

Earlier that same day, we are now in Jeremy's room. Jeremy, Odd, and I eagerly wait for Ulrich.

"Say Odd, how mad was Sissi when she found out Yumi and I had her diary?" I ask, Odd sits comfortably on Jeremy's bed.

"On a scale of one to ten? 11," Odd smiles.

"Just goes to show you, Karma is always there when you least expect it," Jeremy says.

"Just like Xana," I joke.

Odd laughs a little, "Good one Lila."

"Anyways, do you think Ulrich will keep his diary safe this time around?" Jeremy asks.

"I'm sure he will Jeremy," I reply, the door starts to open. Turning our attention to the door, the door opens with Ulrich and his diary in hand as he lifts it proudly.

"Mission, successful," Ulrich says.

Jeremy claps.

"Yeah!" Odd cheers, standing on the bed. He jumps in the air. He lands back onto the bed, hitting it with a thump. I smile slightly, happy for Ulrich.

"Congratulations Ulrich. Sissi, wasn't too much trouble this time was she?" Jeremy asks.

"No, she wasn't. And thanks Lila, for helping Yumi find it the first time," Ulrich says.

"You're welcome," I smile.

 **In Lila's room**

Later, I sigh going into my room. Mary is sitting on the bed as she's been waiting for me. I close the door.

"I'm glad you're well," Mary says.

"Thank you. Me too. With you..."

"I apologize for the heartbreaking news I gave you last week. I know we haven't talked much, all week. But, I should have been more truthful sooner."

I shake my head, "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gotten angry with you."

"It was a perfectly normal reaction. I would have been concerned if you didn't get angry at me. How did things go on Lyoko?"

"Thanks... I guess if I didn't get angry at you, it would be a cause for concern. Odd and Ulrich were trapped on a bus, the entire time. Yumi and I barely managed to handle things by ourselves. We were lucky this time around, and for once my own spells didn't cause me to devirtualize. I used them with carefully," I say.

"That's good, I'm glad it went well. But Lila, fighting for the world no, the future, is not about luck. It's just a matter of time. And in time, we'll defeat Xana. No matter what."

"No matter what," I say, nodding to her in agreement.

 **And done! Don't forget to review!**

 **If I have the time to update again before March I will. But I'm going to be rather busy these next few weeks. Consider, this a special Valentine's day gift to all my readers, followers, and readers who favorite the story!**

 **Until the next one!**

 **LyokoWarrior1994**


	8. Big bug means big trouble

**This chapter was written by me and edited by Undeadmonkey8.**

 **Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is copyrighted by Moonscoop, I only own my OCs. Mary is owned by AeroJester203.**

 **Enjoy the chapter!**

 _Big bug means big trouble_

 **In the courtyard**

 **POV Lila's**

I go to meet Ulrich, Odd, Yumi and Jeremy and all of us, into the courtyard as it looks like Sissi, is with Milly and Tamiya. Sissi is with Milly and Tamiya, as they look like they are finishing an argument.

Her two goons – Nicholas and Herb- are with her as usual.

"How's it going?" Sissi asks as we approach them.

"Sissi being nice? Aren't you usually conceited?" Odd asks. "Well, I'm fine. Thank you for asking."

"I didn't mean you," Sissi remarks as she smiles at Ulrich. "Don't you think it's time to stop being shy Ulrich, and finally tell your friends how you feel about me?"

"I'm not shy. I'm just not into anybody who's stuck up," he replies, crossing his arms.

We all laugh at that, even Nicholas and Herb. Sissi looks at Nicholas, then turns to Herb, and they stop laughing. Odd lays his hand out.

"Let me guess: She's been going on and on about how she's the prettiest girl in school. That there's no guy in school, who isn't attracted to her. Am I right?" Odd asks. "I mean, she's always hanging out with these two. They're probably the only ones at school who are into her."

This causes Nicholas to get angry, and he starts to walk to Odd, but Sissi sets a hand on his chest, pushing him back.

"Impressive. It's almost as if you've got them trained on command," Ulrich jokes. "Maybe you can be a dog trainer in the future."

Sissi puts her hands on her hips.

"You can joke, all you want to now Ulrich. I know your true feelings. Whenever you aren't around with your friends, I see how you look at me." She claims before she, Nicholas, and Herb start walking away.

"She must be daydreaming," Ulrich says as Yumi can't help but look at him.

"I just realized! I have to feed Kiwi," Odd remembers.

"Yumi, Lila, want to go with us?" Ulrich asks.

"I'm actually going to go and see Jeremy," I reply.

Yumi shakes her head, "Me too, but thanks though," she waves.

"Okay, see you later," Ulrich says as he smiles at Yumi.

Yumi and I make our way to Jeremy's room.

 **On the boy's dorm floor**

We're in the doorway of Jeremy's room. We hear typing coming from his room.

"Jeremy? I'm with Lila," Yumi says.

"Hi, you're more than welcome to come in," Jeremy says as Yumi walks into the room first. I walk in after as I close the door.

 **In Jeremy's room**

Jeremy is typing, and we walk up to him. Yumi sits on the side of his desk, "What are you up to?"

"I'm creating a new program. It's going to act a catastrophe alerting system," he explains.

"Kind of like a news report?" I ask.

"Kind of yes. So, the idea I've thought of is to rate disasters that occur naturally, and those disasters that don't occur naturally. I'll publish it onto multiple websites and information networks," he starts to explain. "These disasters will be rated on a scale of one through ten. If the disaster reaches the number five, I'll be notified immediately."

"What will happen then?" Yumi asks.

"It'll be the best way to identify any signs of a Xana attack," Jeremy answers.

"That's so cool," Yumi says sarcastically.

Jeremy notices her tone, as he looks at her. "Penny for your thoughts?"

Yumi puts her finger on her chin. "Is - is there a chance Ulrich is into Sissi?"

I nearly choke on that question, as Yumi pats my back. The choking dies down and stops.

"Sorry caught off guard. That's what you're worried about?" I ask.

Jeremy puts his hands behind his head. "Lila's right. Sissi? Ulrich is not into Sissi. I would have never guessed that you're the jealous type Yumi."

Yumi gasps, "I am not jealous!" she exclaims.

"Well if you were jealous, I'd tell you, you wouldn't need to worry," I smile. Yumi sits on a desk to the side as Jeremy continues typing.

"And... done. I think the program is ready," Jeremy says as he presses the final key.

"Nice job," I compliment.

"Thanks. Now, all we can do is wait," Jeremy says. As if on cue, a window pops up with a news channel. I get off the bed, as we watch it.

The news channel shows a picture of the train, with a question mark, on it as it turns into a smaller window, and focus on the anchorwoman.

 _"The country's main computer systems are affected by some sort of strange, but an extremely powerful virus. Multiple and important information structures such as Communications, banking, subways, and air traffic control. The imminent danger, however, is the possibility of a major collision course between two trains," The anchorwoman informs. "For more information. Here's John Swang,"_ Yumi, Jeremy, and I look at each other as the scene changes to the news reporter.

 _"Thank you, Veronica. If you're just tuning in, there is indeed an immediate danger, of trains crashing. There are no passengers on board, but these trains carry dangerous and very toxic chemicals. Should they spread into the air, this would lead to a catastrophe, that could have irreversible effects on our environment,"_ John Swang explains.

 _"John, is there any hope of avoiding such a disaster?" Veronica asks._

 _"Local law enforcement has yet to comment how they plan on stopping the collision, but I've been informed that they are beginning a local evacuation as a safety measure."_ Jeremy turns the program off.

"Yumi, inform Ulrich and Odd. Lila and I will go to the factory, connect with Aelita, and start the transfers," Jeremy says.

Yumi takes out her cell phone as she dials Ulrich first and calls him. She paces around the room, as he doesn't' answer. She calls Odd's number but no luck.

"They're not answering," Yumi frets.

"Maybe their mobiles are off?" I suggest.

"Let's hope not," Jeremy replies.

"No one's picking up," Yumi says as she hangs her phone up. She puts it in her pants pocket. "I'm going to go and find them. They should be done feeding, Kiwi by now."

"Right. Then, we'll go to the factory," Jeremy says.

 **Afterwards**

We leave the room and begin making our way to the factory.

 **At the boiler room**

Jeremy and I reach the boiler room. We run to the door that leads to the passageway and I open it. We start running down the passageway as we make it to the sewers.

 **In the sewers**

Jeremy grabs his scooter, as I grab my scooter. We start riding our scooters.

 **Afterwards**

Jeremy and I run into the freight elevator. He presses the red button, as the elevator's hanger door then closes. The elevator goes down. We reach the lab, as the elevator's doors open.

 **Inside the lab**

Jeremy goes to sit on his chair, as he places the headset on him. He starts typing on the keyboard.

"Do you copy Aelita?" Jeremy asks as Aelita's window pops up.

 _"Of course, Jeremy. I've been working on the materialization program. How are you doing Lila?"_ Aelita asks.

"I'm okay, thanks," I say.

"There's not enough time for that right now. We have a serious situation. Xana's woken up, he's already made his move. Have you felt any pulsations?" Jeremy asks.

" _I haven't, but I'll go out and take a look,"_ Aelita says.

Yumi calls Jeremy, as her picture pops up on the monitor.

"Yumi, any luck on getting through to them?" Jeremy asks.

 _"No such luck. I'm going out to look for them now."_

"Please, keep us posted," Jeremy says as he ends the call, as he opens a window on the supercomputer. He turns it to the news channel.

" _The situation is still ongoing. The freight trains, are still out of control. Armed units are working with local law enforcement to safely escort people out of the area,"_ Veronica says. " _The country's capital is dealing with multiple traffic jams, which is creating a gridlock. There's chaos, and the police are too busy and cannot lend more manpower. Since all alarm systems are down, I have various reports of looting coming in."_

"This is crazy..." I trail off.

Jeremy nods in agreement as he types some keys.

"Aelita, do you have anything new?" he asks, my mother's window pops up.

 _"Yes, Jeremy. I've found the pulsations, and they're leading to an activated tower in the Desert Sector. I'll leave now_."

We turn around to see Ulrich, Yumi, but no Odd.

"Odd's not with you?" Jeremy asks.

"Sissi ratted on Odd, about Kiwi. Jim knows about Kiwi now, and he's in the principal's office," Yumi explains as she and Ulrich are on the other side of Jeremy.

"Then you three should get ready to depart immediately," Jeremy says.

We walk to the elevator as we get in. I press the red button to go down.

 **In the scanner room**

It brings us to the scanner room. The freight elevators' doors open as Yumi, Ulrich, and I go and take our perspective scanners. We step into our scanners. The scanners close.

" _Transfer: Ulrich, Transfer: Yumi, Transfer: Lila,"_ Jeremy begins. Closing my eyes, the scanner starts spinning.

 _"Scanner: Ulrich, Scanner: Yumi, Scanner: Lila,"_ The scanner continues to spin and starts humming.

 _"Virtualization!"_

I close my eyes as a familiar gush of wind and bright light, billows my hair and necklace. It then engulfs me in the scanner, virtualizing me to Lyoko.

 **Lyoko's Desert Sector**

My sight returns as I open my eyes, and Yumi, Ulrich, and I land perfectly.

"We're here Jeremy. It was a smooth transfer," Yumi informs.

"We can see Aelita too," I add. I see my mother across from us, she waves her hand.

 _"That's good news. There doesn't appear to be any monsters, for the moment,"_ Jeremy informs.

We start running to Aelita.

"Has there been any word from Odd?" Ulrich asks.

 _"No, but I'm going to try and reach him."_

"Okay," Ulrich says and we reach Aelita.

"The tower isn't too far away, we should get going," Aelita says.

"Right!" I nod. We start running again. We pass by gray cables along the way, that are pulsing red. Aelita points to the tower, surrounded by jagged rocks.

"There's the tower," Aelita says as Yumi, Ulrich, and I look around.

"Something's... not right," Yumi says.

"Looks, like Xana, is trying to trap us again," Ulrich agrees.

"Jeremy. Is there anything on your monitor?" I ask.

" _No there isn't, it's really strange. Not one monster,"_ Jeremy replies.

We start walking, but we only take a few steps before Jeremy speaks up again, _"I stand corrected, four monsters are surrounding you."_

Ulrich puts his hand in front of Yumi to stop her. He scans the area with his eyes, as he readies his blade. I ready my staff.

"But... where can they be?" Ulrich asks

Several lasers hit all of us, including Aelita, and our bodies begin to spark. Ulrich yelps, as he makes a dive for the ground, then moves to Aelita's right side. He readies his katana. Four Bloks appear as I take my sword out, ready to shield Aelita. Ulrich readies his Katana blade, as the Bloks continue to fire again. He blocks the incoming lasers, his Katana glowing light blue with each block. I use my sword to block the incoming lasers. Yumi opens her fan as she throws it, the Blok dodging it with ease.

 _"All of you are quickly losing your life points, retreat for now!"_

"Okay, sure thing Jeremy! Should we grow some wings and fly out of here, huh?" Urich as we continue to block the lasers.

 _"If you look to your right, there are a lot of rocks. You can try to lose them in there."_

"Yumi, Lila. Go and take Aelita, I'll finish them off," Ulrich says.

"But Ulrich -" Yumi and I say in unison.

"No time to argue, just run!" Ulrich exclaims.

"Triplicate!" Ulrich exclaims. He forms into three different versions of himself. Each version stands in front of a blok, while the last one stands in front of two bloks.

"Hurry, go now!" Ulrich exclaims as we start running. Glancing over at him, he nods and we start running. From afar, we watch Ulrich battling the blok. It manages to fire a laser at him and devirtualizes him.

"Run!" Yumi exclaims as we start to run again. With the blok not far behind us, I take out my staff. I begin to chant in Latin and charge my staff.

"Exardesco! Exardesco! Exardesco!" I exclaim. I fire off three Fire Bolts, but the Blok somehow manages to evade each and continues running as it starts firing its lasers. It shoots a laser at Aelita. Yumi manages to tackle her out of the way as I get in front of them, and ready my sword, to block the attack.

"Telekinesis," Yumi says. She places her hands on her head. Her body starts to glow pink as she lifts one of the large rocks with her mind. Aelita gasps as I ready myself with my sword to defend her. Yumi uses her telekinesis, to bring the large boulder above the blok. She groans in pain from the tremendous pressure of the blok. She releases the rock, crushing the blok. Yumi makes a fist, proud of her success.

"You're clear to go Aelita!" Yumi exclaims.

"Nice one Yumi," I compliment, turning to her and taking my eyes off the battlefield.

"Thanks," Yumi smiles.

Not hearing the monster approaching us, Yumi and I turn to see a megatank opening up.

"No - Yumi, Lila, watch out!" Aelita exclaims.

Without giving us a chance to grab our weapons, the megatank unleashes its energy wave. It hits us, knocking us to the ground. We start to devirtualize.

"Aelita-" I start to say and we completely devirtualize.

 **Back in the scanner room**

I open my eyes, finding myself back in the scanner. The scanner opens, and I groan.

"That sucked," I say. Yumi's scanner opens. She groans as well. Walking to the elevator, we use it to bring us back to the lab.

 **In the lab**

"Welcome back to reality," Jeremy greets.

"I'm so sorry Jeremy. I tried," Yumi says.

"Me too..." I trail off as we walk up to Jeremy and Ulrich.

Aelita's profile card pops up with the VS card and the Megatank's, I gasp.

"Aelita what do you think you're doing?!" I exclaim, worrying for the safety of my mother. Her vulnerability on Lyoko makes it this battle a real life or death situation.

"Please, get out of there! It's not safe, have you gone insane?!" Jeremy exclaims as well.

The monitor shows us Aelita handling the megatank with her creation, forcing it to the digital sea, the card on the supercomputer's monitor disappears.

"Alright!" Ulrich exclaims.

"I had a feeling she would use that," Jeremy says.

I roll my eyes and giggle a little, "You just doubted her earlier." He turns to me.

"Fair enough, but let's be honest. Both of us did."

I smile and nod, "True, I did. She did it and that's all that matters."

Another Megatank quickly matches its profile against Aelita's. We tense up again, but she uses her creation to quickly deal with the megatank. Its profile disappears, and we all relax.

To the window on the left, Jeremy's program is showing the trains continuing to grow closer and closer to the collision. We watch, with each of us gasping, but thankfully the trains stop within a few feet of each other. We cheer.

"Alright! Just in time!" Ulrich exclaims.

Jeremy starts typing the keys on the keyboard.

"Return to the past now!" Jeremy exclaims.

A big white bubble engulfs us all, bringing back to the beginning of the day.

 **Earlier**

 **The same day**

I decided not to join Ulrich, Yumi, Jeremy, and Odd in their new prank involving Sissi and Herb. As funny as it sounds, I decide to go to my room. I reach my room as I open the door, closing it behind me.

 **In Lila's room**

"I'm glad you guys made it in time, I was concerned," Mary says.

"Me too. My mother fought off two Megatanks all by herself."

"That's good. And in time, she'll develop powers that will not make her as vulnerable, as she is now," Mary says. "I'm sure of it." A question pops into my mind, as I ask Mary:

"Do you think it would be a good idea, to create a digital journal of Xana's most recent attacks?"

Mary thinks about it for a few seconds, before nodding. "It would be. I think it could lead us to find a weakness in Xana. Something, strong enough to stop him from reactivating the supercomputer in 2019."

"Somedays I just wish, I could make a time jump in 2019 and deal with it now," I sigh.

Mary nods, "I understand. But doing so could be catastrophic to this timeline. By accidentally establishing yourself as a Lyoko Warrior, our friends are going to need your help. If you go missing, during Xana's next attack… there's no telling what affects that will have on the timeline."

"Time travel is really complicated, isn't it Mary?"

"It is Lila, but I'll be here with you. Every step of the way."

I smile, "Thanks Mary."

 **And done! Don't forget to review!**

 **Author's note: Midterms are tomorrow and next week… so this story may not be updated for a week or two. I don't want to worry any of my readers, but I can tell you that I have been pre-writing the chapters of Lila's Journey. I am currently pre-writing my version, of what will be Exploration, which takes place in Season 2. I have a LOT in store for everyone. Until the next one!**

 **LyokoWarrior1994**


	9. One Chance

**This chapter was written by me and edited by AeroJester203. Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko, all copy righting belongs to Moonscoop. I only own my OC Lila. Mary was created and owned by AeroJester203.**

 **Author's note: Sorry for the long wait, but school keeps me busy and I've been on Spring Break! I've been pre writing a lot of chapters for everyone who reads this story, and I can't WAIT to show you all what I have in-store for all of you!**

 **Author's note 2: This is a special chapter that will contain different POVs. Please NOTE: The switching POV with characters, will not occur as often as it did with my original code lyoko my journey series. The story after this chapter, will mainly be shown through Lila's POV. This is her story, her journey. But with this chapter, it couldn't be help.**

 **Please enjoy the chapter!**

 _One Chance_

 **In Lila's room**

 **POV Lila's**

I wake up to the sound of knocking, having taken a rare day to sleep in a little after being up late and studying for my classes. Rolling out of bed to my feet, I stretch and yawn before rubbing my eyes. I make my way to the door. Once I open it, I see Odd with an ecstatic grin.

"Jeremy has some amazing news," Odd excitedly tells me.

"News?" I ask groggily before letting out another yawn. "Okay, I'll change and meet you in a few."

Odd nods and I close the door.

 **In Jeremy's room**

I meet up with Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, and my father in his room, all of us sitting on his bed as he explains the accident Odd had with dropping a bunch of candy on Jeremy's keyboard this morning. Evidently, it managed to key the exact sequence needed to finish the materialization program. The problem was that, since Jeremy didn't know the codes, he wouldn't be able to type it in again after using it.

Yumi, however, shakes her head, and I agree with her since it seems too risky. It also doesn't fit the timeline my father told me of.

"Jeremy... we've got only _one_ chance to make this work," I try to reason.

Jeremy stands up from his chair to begin pacing the room, "Exactly! And we're never going to have another chance. What if something goes wrong and I can't fix the program again?"

"Jeremy... this needs to be handled carefully," Yumi warns. "There's a lot to be done before you materialize Aelita."

"Everything is working," he insists as he starts walking toward the computer.

Ulrich puts his hand on his head, frustrated. "Jeremy, try to reasonable. Aelita doesn't have parents or a birth certificate. She has no school record. I mean, those two things aren't that big of a problem; you can forge them. But in reality, it means she doesn't exist."

"Can you imagine? 'Hello, my name is Aelita. I'm from a virtual world called Lyoko,'" Odd says in an overly-cheerful, horrible imitation of my mother's voice. "That would be a one way trip to the psych ward."

"I hate to say it... but they're right Jeremy," I agree.

 _"Jeremy, there's no need to rush,"_ Aelita says.

Jeremy sits down on his chair with a sigh and takes his glasses off to wipe his eyes before placing them back on.

"What do we do now?"

"I can always ask my folks to let her stay at my house for a while. They wouldn't mind," Yumi offers, smiling.

Ulrich adds, "You can hack into the computers at city hall. Create a whole new identity for her, so she can start a whole new life."

"From there, you just need to enroll her here at Kadic. If you can put her into some of our classes, that would be really neat," Odd finishes.

"It would be nice," I agree, smiling myself.

Jeremy thinks about it for a few seconds and nods in agreement. "Then I'll start first thing in the morning."

 **Later that night**

I wake up in the middle of the night to an alarm on my copy of father's laptop.

"What's going on?" I ask. I quickly shake myself to lucidity. Even with this more peaceful time, alarms still made old instincts kick in.

Mary expels herself from my phone as she wisps her way to the computer. She transforms into her physical form and starts typing on it.

"Xana's attacking in the forest region," Mary informs.

"The only activated towers have been in the ice region, the desert and the forest," I complain. "When are we going to get to go to the mountain sector or cortex?"

"Not for some time, as you are aware," Mary replies.

"I know, I know," I say, while starting to get out of my bed. "My father mentioned a few times when our friends went to those sectors. But a change of view can be a good thing from time to time. And anyways, how do you know Xana is attacking?"

Mary continues typing and brings up a new window. Looking over her shoulder, I see that it's running my father's future super scan program.

"But - that's - how?" I stammer with wide eyes.

"It seems to have re-calibrated somehow, in this timeline. Perhaps it detected the supercomputer and re-applied the necessary adjustments."

"That makes sense, I think..." I trail off. I put my shoes on. "Well at least I'm in my pajamas, wish me luck."

"Okay, good luck," Mary says before I leave.

 **On the boy's dorm floor**

I rush up the stairs to Ulrich and Odd's room, seeing their door already open.

"Wake up already! He's attacking!" my father yells from inside. I can see him in his usual outfit already once I'm in the doorway.

"Wha- what was that?" Odd groans as he begins waking up.

"Xana's attacking, he's attacking!" Jeremy exclaims, repeating himself.

Ulrich groans as I enter the room, they look at me.

"Xana attack?" I ask.

Jeremy notices me and replies, "Yeah, how did you know?"

"Well, for starters, you were practically yelling it," I point out.

"Fair enough. But that's only because these two, wouldn't wake up," Jeremy explains. He fixes his glasses.

Odd notices a pair of earplugs in his roommate's hands.

"Ulrich... why are you sleeping with earplugs?" he asks. "Do you always sleep with them?"

Ulrich gets up from his bed, "I do, yeah. Someday, I may even tell you why."

"Huh?" Odd asks in confusion.

 **Outside**

After waiting for Ulrich and Odd to get dressed, we run outside to the direction of the rumbling noise we've been hearing. The noise leads us to the track field as we see two bulldozers that are lit up and driving on their own.

"Well, I guess we've found our answer," Odd says. "Xana's not very subtle, is he?"

"Jeremy, Lila. Get to the lab and call Yumi on your way. Odd and I will try to stop the bulldozers," Ulrich decides as we nod.

"Good luck," Jeremy says, has managed to catch his breath a bit from the run.

Ulrich and Odd, start running towards the bulldozers. Jeremy and I start running in the direction of the manhole in the forest.

 **In the sewers**

We soon arrive in the sewers and grab our scooters to ride them down the underground passage.

"Do you have your phone on you?" Jeremy asks.

I shake my head, "No, sorry, I left it back in my room."

"It's okay. I'll call Yumi, then," Jeremy says as he dials Yumi's number and calls her while keeping one hand on the scooter's handle. We keep kicking the ground with our feet to increase our speed since every second counts.

"Yumi, there's trouble. Xana's using bulldozers!" Jeremy informs.

There's a short pause, as he says:

"Ulrich and Odd are trying to deal with them! They're the ones that Delmas had, that are going to build the new stadium!"

 _"Are you kidding me?!"_ Yumi yells. I can barely hear her voice when my father pulls the phone away from his ear at the volume of her scream.

 **Inside the lab**

We exit the elevator, and Jeremy runs to his chair, taking his headset as he sits down and turns the monitor on.

"Aelita, stay alert! Xana's monsters might be hiding somewhere," Jeremy says. We see Aelita's arrow on the screen, hiding behind a tree.

 _"I'll be fine; don't worry, you two. For now, everything is quiet. I can hear the pulsations getting stronger and stronger. The tower shouldn't be far away,"_ Aelita informs.

Jeremy and I look at the freight elevator door, as we see it open. Odd comes out a moment later and walks up to us.

"Aelita, everything will be okay," Jeremy reassures. "Odd and Lila will be there momentarily. I just hope Yumi and Ulrich will be on their way soon."

"Ulrich?" Odd asks. "He told me to go ahead; he's trying to figure out what Xana is doing with the bulldozers."

Jeremy starts typing several keys on the keyboard as he calls Ulrich from the computer.

"Ulrich, can you hear me?" he asks.

Ulrich's picture with his cell phone number pops up onscreen a moment before his voice rings out.

 _"I've got some bad news, Jeremy. The bulldozers have taken me to the river bank, by the bridge. I think - I think Xana's using them to target the factory!"_ Ulrich informs as we can hear the noise coming from the bulldozers.

"I see… That's what Xana is planning. By bringing them here, he can destroy the factory," Jeremy gravely states. "That would mean no more scanners, no more trips to Lyoko, and most importantly... we'll lose connection to Aelita."

Odd and I start running to the elevator as my father continues talking with Ulrich.

"Ulrich, I'm going to have Odd and Lila be virtualized now. But, if they get into trouble I need you to hurry up."

I press the button to close the elevator's door.

 **In the scanner room**

It brings us to the scanner room. Ulrich takes the middle scanner, Odd takes the right one, and I take the left one. We step into the scanners.

 _"Transfer: Odd, Transfer: Lila,"_ Jeremy begins. Closing my eyes, the scanner starts spinning.

 _"Scanner: Odd, Scanner: Lila,"_ he continues. The scanner continues to spin and starts humming.

 _"Virtualization!"_

A gust of wind and light flare engulfs me in the scanner.

 **Lyoko's Forest Sector**

Moments later, I open my eyes to see Odd and I virtualized in Lyoko's Forest Sector, the two of us landing safely.

Odd readies his Laser Arrows, and I take my staff out. We scan the area, seeing the cables pulsing red. The feline blond holds up a hand and jumps in the air to land on the other side of the cable next to a tree. I follow after him as he readies his Laser Arrows again, but Aelita comes out from behind the tree right as he seems ready to circle it and point his fist at her.

"Hi, guys. You both look stressed," Aelita greets.

I put my staff away, "No, we're okay, Aelita."

"It's just that we need to be ready, just in case. You never what will happen when you're on Lyoko," Odd explains.

Aelita motions for us to follow, "Let's go, the activated tower is in this direction."

"Okay," Odd says as we start moving. With no monsters in sight, we run to follow Aelita's heading. However, we come to a crossroads that leads with four different pathways. Odd and I look at each path.

"We should go this way," Aelita informs as she points to the path with pulsations. We also see two Kankrelats.

Odd snorts, "Xana sure knows how to make us feel welcome."

"Roachers always arrive with five in each group," Aelita reminds us. I look behind us to see one Kankrelat heading towards us on each of the other three paths.

"Xana's welcoming party looks like they're ready to bring down the house," Odd jokes as he readies his Laser Arrows. Aelita looks at him, slightly confused by his joke. She shrugs as I take my staff out and cover Aelita from her left side while beginning to chant in Latin.

"Hi guys, who wants to be first?" Odd asks as one of the Kankrelats starts to charge its laser. It fires at Odd as he jumps in the air and lands, almost as if he were doing a push-up. Another Kankrelat fires at him and gets a hit, knocking him to the ground.

I finishing chanting.

"Exardesco! Exardesco!" I swing my staff, sending two Fire Bolts directly at two Kankrelats. One of the Fire Bolts miss, but the other hits the insect monster directly, destroying it. One of the Kankrelats fires its laser at Aelita, and she drops to her knees in a hasty duck.

We continue to dodge the lasers as Odd leaps in the air, jumping and dodging them. He's hit again as I take my sword out to block the lasers.

 _"Odd, try to be more careful huh? Remember the mission is to safely protect Aelita."_

"Let's say you and I switch places Jeremy," Odd offers while rubbing the area where he'd been shot.

Odd gets up as he continues to dodge the lasers, he moves to the path ahead of us, as he readies his Laser Arrows.

 _"Odd, you're down four Laser Arrows. Lila, be careful, it looks like you have a limit on those Fire Bolts as well. You've used up two out of your ten shots,"_ Jeremy informs.

"Wait I have a limit?!" I exclaim. I fire off another Fire Bolt, and block the lasers at the same time. I miss as Aelita and I take cover behind a tree.

 _Unbelievable... this magic power of mine really does more harm than good. And why did the supercomputer even give me Magic powers? I mean, I'm more of a science wizard, than a magical wizard. Then again... I guess magic could be considered a science no one understands yet,_ I think.

Odd jumps through the air in a sideways flip to fire off three Laser Arrows while upside down.

"Odd..." Aelita and I mutter in exasperation at the flashy display.

The three arrowheads manage to make an impact, causing the remaining Kankrelat on the path towards the tower to explode. We start running down it with the remaining Kankrelats not far behind.

"Jeremy, the three of us are in need of some help," I call out.

 _"I'm sending Yumi now,"_ my father informs. "Ulrich, however, is... fast asleep."

"I really hope he at least has a pillow or something," Odd jokes.

We continue running from the three remaining Kankrelats.

 _"Odd, try to keep the roachers preoccupied. You and Lila, are too far away from Yumi. Lila, go ahead with Aelita to the tower and protect her."_

The feline warrior nods, "Roger Dodger, Einstein!"

"Are you sure?" I ask him.

"Yeah, I have this. Get going to the tower," Odd replies while cocking his paw. He skids to a stop before immediately turning around to engage the Kankrelats, dropping to all fours to move towards them faster.

"Right!" I nod.

Aelita and I continue running as Jeremy has his microphone still on.

 **POV Odd's**

Going on a hunch from my time climbing that huge plateau in the Desert Sector, I drop to all fours and manage to pick up speed. I feel free and it's like my body knows what to do all by itself.

 _Man, I wish I could run with Kiwi here on Lyoko_ , I idly think before almost being on top of the roachers. Deciding to have some fun with them, I weave through the blasts that they start firing at me.

"Nyah-nyah! Can't hit me!" I taunt before sweeping by and knocking one of them off the side of the path with a sideways body tackle before dodging the other two roachers' counterattack.

 _"Odd, will you stop fooling around?!"_ Jeremy asks in a frustrated tone.

I ignore him while habitually rubbing the side of my face with the back of my paw, "Relax, Jeremy-ow." Then I blink at the slip of the tongue and notice that I'm sitting on my haunches like a cat. The distraction costs me and a laser hits me in the side, completely snapping me out of the trance.

Standing back up and firing a pair of Laser Arrows that manage to take out one of the roachers', I try to shake my head clear while focusing on the last monster.

"Phew, gotta be careful with that," I mutter. "Got a little too catty there for a moment."

 _"Remember Odd, if Lila can't get Aelita to the tower in time then that's it. The scanners will be destroyed, and they'll be stuck on Lyoko forever,"_ Jeremy reminds me.

But as I hear that, the dizzy feeling I felt once before comes back and the monster in front of me starts turning blurry as the scene changes before my eyes.

 _No, not now!_ I internally curse.

 _The vision shows Lila falling down a hole in the forest landscape to the digital void below._

The scene abruptly changes back and I fight off the dizziness as I barely sway out of the way of a laser shot.

Pointing my paw I manage to fire one more Laser Arrow as the roacher fires a shot at me. I swiftly leap to the side and dodge the laser. The Laser Arrow hits the roacher, and the roacher explodes.

 _I've got to get to Lila!_ , I think and start running with paws and feet on the ground.

 **POV Lila's**

Aelita and I make it near the tower, where there is a large hole, in the forest landscape. The megatank is blocking our only safe path around the wide open area. Looking across, I can see the large hole between us and the megatank is starting to make me feel eerie.

Aelita and I start running to the left side of the large open space, as the megatank opens. It fire's its laser wave as we run and dodge it. We find cover behind a tree. The megatank closes as it rolls away, trying to reposition itself.

"Aelita I need you to trust me. Distract the megatank from one side," I say.

"Huh? But-" Aelita says but I interrupt her.

"Please, I have a plan."

Aelita nods as she starts to run on the right side, the Megatank reopens as it charges its laser wave and fires at her. As it concentrates its firepower on Aelita, I start running on the left side. I look to see Aelita barely missing the laser wave as she begins to make run to the tower. I continue running, as the megatank charges its laser. I run to the side of the megatank, as I leap into the air and push it. By doing this, I change the direction of the laser wave, allowing Aelita to run on the logs. The megatank falls to the digital sea, but I fall down. I barely manage to catch a single hand on the cliff as a big beam of light shines from the digital sea, meaning the megatank evaporated.

 _At least I got to be with my mom and dad,_ I think beginning to lose my grip on the edge.

"Lila I'm almost there! Don't let go of the edge!" Odd exclaims.

 _Odd... of course, you must have known through your future flash abilities, you just arrived a little too late..._

"Lila, I'm coming! Don't let go!" Yumi exclaims, as I now hear her voice. I'm no longer able to hold on, as I start falling. Odd, and Yumi appear at the edge of where I had fallen. Ulrich, using his super sprint, super speeds there; but it's too late. My three friends yell:

"Lila!"

I continue to fall in silence as I hit the digital void, my body starting to evaporate. I see the return to the past bubble, but everything starts to black out.

 _Mary... goodbye,_ I think.

 **In Lila's room**

 **POV Mary's**

I continue typing, logging in Xana's latest attack, with bulldozers. I see the return to past bubble coming into view. My eyes widen, as somehow, I have a strange feeling, that I'm no longer feel a connection with Lila.

"Lila what happened to-" I start to say, but I'm cut off as the return trip to the past program sends me back to earlier yesterday morning.

 **The same morning**

 **POV Mary's**

I'm still in the chair, in front of the computer. I notice the time change on it, and I turn to Lila's bed. My eyes widen,

"She's not here! No... oh no!"

 **Later**

 **POV Lila's**

I'm not sure how much time has passed. I realize I'm in the scanner, as it opens. I gasp awake, as Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd look at me.

"It's okay! Lila, you're okay!" Yumi exclaims as she bends down to help me up.

"But - but what happened?" I ask as Ulrich helps lift me up as well. "How did you guys get me back here?"

"Well - see, the thing is..." Yumi trails off.

"Jeremy, he used Aelita's materialization code to bring you back," Ulrich finishes.

"He did? I see..." I trail off. "I'm very grateful. Is he upset?" I ask.

"You know how Jeremy is. He'll be okay, besides I've got some candy that will fix him right up," Odd replies smiles slightly. He shifts his feet. "Lila... I'm... I'm sorry I couldn't warn you in time. I thought it would be quicker to get to you since I was the closest one near you and Aelita."

"Odd, it's okay. You all tried your best; what matters now is that I'm here. Let's not dwindle on the what ifs okay? Besides, it's nothing a little candy can't fix. Right?" I ask. Ulrich and Yumi take me to the elevator.

"Candy... right..." Odd trails off and smiles a little, and starts making his way to the elevator too.

 **Afterwards**

 **In the sewers**

We're now in the sewers as we watch Jeremy kicking his leg back and forth, increasing his speed on his scooter.

We walk up to him, as I go next to him. I place my hand on his shoulder, as I smile. Ulrich does the same with his hand, on Jeremy's other shoulder.

"Jeremy, would you like some candy?" Odd asks. He gets in front of us. He shows the red hard piece of candy, in front of him. This causes Jeremy to stop riding his scooter.

"But, isn't that my candy?" Jeremy asks.

"Huh?" Odd asks and looks at the bag of the hard candy. "Oh yeah, I guess it is. Here ya go," he says. Yumi pats Jeremy on his shoulder, his glasses becoming unsteady.

"Sweets are usually known to fix anything, especially a broken heart," Yumi says. She fixes Jeremy's glasses.

"Well... if you insist," Jeremy says and he looks at us. He opens his mouth as Odd throws the candy in the air, Jeremy catches it with his mouth. He chews it, as we all walk back home to Kadic.

 **Later**

 **In Lila's room**

I enter the room, closing the door behind me. Mary surprises me with a hug.

"I saw you hadn't returned to your bed after the return trip. What happened, where were you?" Mary asks, letting go of me.

I start to tell her what happened. Her eyes widen in surprise.

"Why would you do something so risky?! Without you... I'm not sure what would have happened."

"I know, it was risky. But no one had arrived yet and if I hadn't, the timeline would have changed drastically with my mother's early death. Future Lila of this timeline wouldn't have been born."

"I know but - it was still risky!" Mary exclaims. She surprisingly gives me another hug.

"I know you said my father equipped you with emotions. But two hugs in one day Mary-" I start to say.

"Just be quiet," Mary says gripping me tighter.

"I know. I'm sorry Mary, so sorry."

 **And done! Don't forget to review!**

 **LyokoWarrior1994**


	10. What's wrong with Yumi?

**This chapter was written by me and edited by Undeadmonkey8. Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is copyrighted by MoonScoop. I do NOT own Code Lyoko.**

 **I only own my OC Lila. AeroJester203 created Mary and owns her.**

 **Author's note: Hope you like the long chapter! Enjoy!**

 _What's wrong with Yumi?_

 **Lyoko's Ice Sector**

Yumi, Aelita, and I are running down a long path in the ice sector.

"You should see the tower soon, it'll be thirty degrees north. The tower should be in sight now. You should be coming up on it anytime now."

"Yup, we see it. There's no way we could miss it," Yumi says. Approaching the tower, I look around noting the lack of activity

"Be careful all the same."

"This is strange..., nothing's going on..." I say.

Yumi points to the tower and Aelita nods, she starts walking to the tower. She stops at the "doorway" and phases into the tower. Looking up at the tower, my eyes widen at its blue aura.

 _Something's not right here. It should be activated!_ I think. Feeling something hitting me from behind, I start falling to the ground and blackout.

 **Afterwards**

I'm not sure how much time has passed, but I feel something shaking my body. Opening my eyes, I see a shade of pink and realize its Aelita. My vision returns to normal. I ask her:

"Aelita? Ugh... what happened?" Aelita slowly helps me up, and she starts to explain the situation.

"Jeremy I've found Lila. But Yumi still isn't here," Aelita informs.

"Huh? Yumi's missing?" I ask.

"Yes, she is. Jeremy, did you hear that? Lila's here," Aelita says. Looking up, Aelita and I for whatever reason don't hear Jeremy's voice. I start to get a strange feeling.

"I think something's wrong, Aelita, please take my sword and devirtualize me," I request, unsheathing my sword and handing it to her.

"Are you sure?" Aelita asks.

"Yes," I answer. Aelita looks at me, then nods. She takes the sword and gets into a stance, swinging the sword at me she strikes. I close my eyes.

 **Back in the scanner room**

The light from the scanners hitting my eyes, I open them. The scanner opens, revealing Jeremy inside a scanner. He is next to an unconscious Yumi.

"Yumi! Wake up!" Jeremy exclaims, trying to shake her awake. I run to them.

"Let me check her vitals," I say. Jeremy nods. Moving to the side, I lower Yumi's sleeve and place my fingers on her wrist. Feeling a pulse, I look to Jeremy:

"She's alive but her pulse is weak… I'm not sure why. We need to bring her to the nurse's office,"

"I'll call Ulrich and Odd," Jeremy says. Taking out his phone, he then looks at me.

"What exactly happened on Lyoko?"

"I'm - I'm not sure. Something knocked me out," I answer.

 **Outside the nurse's office**

Ulrich and Odd are carrying Yumi by her feet. I am carrying her, holding her from the waist up. Jeremy directs us to Yolanda's office. He knocks on the door and she answers. Looking at us with a shocked look, she moves to the side and allows us to bring Yumi to a bed.

 **Inside the nurse's office**

Jeremy walking in says:

"That's it, nice and easy."

Ulrich, Odd, and I gently place Yumi on the bed. We step to the side.

"How did this happen?" Miss Yolanda inquires.

Jeremy rubs his hand on the back of his head,

"During break... she started to get sick. She… just fainted."

"She's always studying too much, with all the homework our teachers give us," Odd adds.

Ms. Yolanda nods not in agreement of what Odd has said, but because she understands the situation. "I'll take good care of Yumi, now please leave and go back to class." Looking at Yumi on the bed, Miss Yolanda looks at us.

"I'm going to take good care of her. Please leave, she needs her rest," Miss Yolanda says.

Nodding, we take one last look at Yumi and start walking to the door.

 **Afterwards**

 **Outside on the steps**

Sitting down on the steps outside the nurse's office, Jeremy sighs.

"What could have happened on Lyoko to cause Yumi's condition? And why weren't you affected Lila?"

Shaking my head I say,

"I have no idea. "

"You two could have been hit by a Megatank," Ulrich surmises.

"I'm not sure Ulrich... I would have felt the laser. Whatever hit me, knocked me out as if it were human," I explain, "If it was human… it's plausible it could have been someone's weapon. But I'm not sure what hit me."

"Is that even possible?" Odd asks.

"I'm not sure... Aelita's the only life form who lives on Lyoko," Jeremy replies. "Yumi had all of her life points when she was devirtualized. How did you do it?"

"I had Aelita devirtualize me," I explain.

"That would make sense. Furthermore, I would have noticed if there was a monster it should have appeared on the monitor," Jeremy adds.

I nod, agreeing with Jeremy:

"This just keeps getting weirder and weirder..."

Rubbing the back of his head, Ulrich gives a loud sigh.

"This definitely is weird, I'll give you that Lila..."

"Usually, return trips are a piece of cake," Jeremy says.

Odd turns and looks to Jeremy, "It's you think it's that easy Einstein, you should try it some time."

"My mistake..." Jeremy rubs the back of his head, sheepishly.

Ulrich turns to the right and he gasps, "Is - is that Yumi?!" he exclaims.

Jeremy gets up from the stairs, and we run to her.

"How are you doing, any better?" Odd asks.

"You really had us worried," Ulrich says.

"That's for sure," I nod.

"Can you tell us what happened on Lyoko?" Jeremy insists.

For some reason, she turns away from us. Ulrich walks up to her and he places his hand on her shoulder.

"Are you sure you're feeling okay?" Ulrich asks.

"I'm fine!" Yumi replies quickly. She puts her hand near her head, she seems to be in pain.

"Why were you the only one devirtualized on Lyoko?" Jeremy asks, "Please tell us. Don't you remember anything?" Turning to us, she lowers her hand from her head.

"I don't. Let's just go to the factory," Yumi replies.

"With the way you're feeling? That's crazy," Ulrich remarks.

"Besides, there are other things that are more important. And eating is one of them," Odd smiles laughing a little. Yumi with an annoyed look and starts walking away from us and in the direction of the cafeteria.

"Uh..." Odd trails off, the then starts running to catch up to her. Looking at Yumi, who is opening the door to the cafeteria, I can't help but have a strange feeling that something is wrong.

"Do you think Aelita will be safe?" Ulrich asks.

"I told her to remain in the tower for right now. She should be safe," Jeremy answers.

"Good," I nod.

 **In the cafeteria**

Odd takes a bit from one of his meatballs. I start eating my crescent.

"You really can't remember anything?" Jeremy asks.

"Nothing at all," Yumi replies Looking at her plate of food which consists of just a crescent and some tea. Her tea must be getting cold now because she hasn't taken a sip of it yet.

"Maybe there was a bug in just her scanner," Ulrich surmises.

"I'm not so sure. I'm sure it happened on Lyoko after I was knocked out," I explain, taking another bite out of my crescent.

"Maybe Xana's trying a new method of attack," Odd suggests, and he starts to dig into his second meatball.

"There's no way of knowing. I just hope the scanners aren't causing health problems," Jeremy worries.

"I'm sure they aren't," I try to reassure him, then drink a bit of my tea.

"Whatever it is, we'll find out what happened," Jeremy says.

Sissi walks up to us with her tray of food. Sniffing the air; Odd coughs a bit.

"What's your problem?" Sissi asks, annoyed. Odd stops coughing.

"Is that fish I'm smelling? No wait, that's just your cheap perfume," Odd jokes.

"You're hysterical Odd," Sissi says, rolling her eyes at him. Turning her attention to Ulrich, she looks at him and smiles.

"Would you like to hang out together after school, Ulrich?"

Ulrich puts his hand on his chin, rubbing it as if he's thinking about the answer.

"Hang out? With you? No thanks."

All of us except for Yumi starts laughing at Sissi. Using his fork, he takes a meatball from his plate and starts eating it.

"You're only saying this because Yumi's here," Sissi looks at Yumi, and places her hand on the table. "After all, Miss Mademoiselle likes to keep the competition to herself."

"You're wrong," Yumi says looking at her and then turns to Ulrich. "You should go with her you know. She's pretty."

Ulrich, and Odd drop their utensils in shock of what Yumi just said. I drop my crescent and it falls onto the tray. Jeremy's eyes widen in surprise.

"You're not trying to make fun of me are you?" Sissi asks. Yumi looks at giving her a blank stare. She turns back to us.

"Wow, thanks a lot Yumi," Sissi smiles happily, turning to Ulrich. "We'll see each other after school Ulrich, meet me by the park. Ciao." Sissi walks away.

Looking at the table nearby, I catch a glimpse of Herb looking at Ulrich with a jealous look. He notices me then turns away. Turning back to my table, I look at Yumi. Still unsure why she would say such a thing to Sissi.

"What are you trying to do? Are you mad at me or something?" Ulrich asks.

"I'm not. Just go out with her already, she's been waiting for such a long time," Yumi reminds him. A hand grabs Yumi's hand out of nowhere, looking up we see it's Mr. Delmas.

"Miss Ishiyama, report to my office immediately," he demands.

 **Afterwards**

Opening the door, we leave the cafeteria, having decided to finish our lunches earlier than planned.

 **In the courtyard**

We start making our way to the dorms.

I can't help but feel somewhat responsible. I was knocked out rather easily and if I were more aware of my surroundings, I could have protected Yumi.

"What's wrong with Yumi? She's never acted like this before," Ulrich says.

"Yumi must be suffering from some sort of traumatic experience," Jeremy surmises.

"That's for sure. Whatever happened on Lyoko was meant towards Yumi, not me," I say.

"Stern!" Herb exclaims and angrily walks up to us with his Nicholas.

"Why are you going on a date with Sissi?" Herb asks and gets in front of Ulrich. Jeremy puts his hands between them, trying to push Herb out of the way.

"We don't have the time for this, if you want answers I suggest you ask Sissi," Jeremy tells him.

Jeremy pulls Ulrich to the side and we look at Herb and Nicholas. Looking back at us, they huff and walk away. We turn away as well.

"Your love stories aside, I'm going to go and check on the supercomputer. I've got a psychopathic computer to feed," Jeremy says.

 **Afterwards**

 **In Lila's room**

Walking into my room, I close the door behind me. Mary is typing on the copy of my father's computer.

"How's everything going today?" Mary asks.

"A bit strange honestly," I reply.

"Why?" Mary asks, she stops typing and turns her chair facing me. "What's wrong?"

Walking to my bed, I sit on it with a sigh.

"Yumi... she's acting strange," I reply.

"Strange? Strange how?"

"She's distant. She's not herself and she told Ulrich to take Sissi out on a date."

Mary's eyes widen. "She did what?!"

"I know it's surprising. It all started on Lyoko too. I was knocked out by something. I'm not sure what it was."

"How bizarre. Perhaps a phenomenon of some kind? One that I haven't found in your father's video diaries yet?" Mary asks.

"Perhaps. But, I better meet up with the others just to make sure everything is okay. I'll see you later Mary."

"Okay. Please keep me informed on the situation," Mary says and she turns her chair, going back to typing on the computer.

 **On the boy's dorm floor**

Spotting Ulrich and Odd, I run up to them. The three of us make our way to Jeremy's room. Reaching Jeremy's room, Ulrich opens the door. He stops with a shocked look, Odd and I enter the room, we gasp.

 **Inside Jeremy's room**

"Jeremy we should get-" Ulrich starts but his face turns to anger. Yumi is leaning to kiss Jeremy, who no longer has his glasses on and is blushing profusely. Yumi stops her attempt at kissing Jeremy, and they are both in shock. Ulrich turns away, his head down and he walks out of the room.

"This isn't what it looks like!" Jeremy exclaims. He walks out and follows him.

"Please, wait Ulrich!"

"Well done," Odd says and walks away. Yumi looks at me.

"You know something's seriously wrong with you," I glare at her.

"Out of all of us Lila... you're the strangest one," Yumi remarks.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Yumi doesn't answer me. She just smiles at me.

 _Could she have figured out that I'm a time traveler?_ I think.

Turning away from Yumi, I walk out of Jeremy's room and run to catch up with the boys.

 **Later**

 **In Mrs. Hertz's class**

After Jeremy failed to convince Ulrich and Odd, that the kiss was a mistake, we needed to go to Mrs. Hertz's class. I'm sitting next to Jeremy because I believe in him and his story, that Yumi isn't emotionally well. I listen and continue to write down notes throughout Mrs. Hertz's lecture.

 **Afterwards**

Looking at the clock, we're now approaching the end of her lecture.

"Some animals and insects in certain cases have been known to use a process called Genesis. This phenomenon is well known, and it acts as a sort of natural cloning. Meaning, the original animal gives birth to a new and identical replica. There are no noticeable differences, between the replica and the original. This process has even occurred with rabbits," Mrs. Hertz explains, writing down her lecture on the blackboard.

Jeremy looks behind Odd and Ulrich. Ulrich looks understandably upset as Odd takes his tongue out and motorboats at Jeremy.

"Tomorrow, we'll finish this lesson," Mrs. Hertz says looking at the clock. The bells ring, signaling class is over. Jeremy, and I grab our materials, and place them in the bags. We walk out of the classroom first. Our classmates start walking out of the classroom.

 **Outside**

Spotting Ulrich and Odd, who are exiting the classroom, I grab Ulrich's arm and bring him to the side. Odd and Jeremy follow me.

"Let me go Lila," Ulrich says.

"No. Just give Jeremy a moment to explain."

He sighs then nods and I let go of him.

"There's something wrong with Yumi. She's isn't emotionally well," Jeremy reasons. "Whatever she experienced alone on Lyoko, must have been very traumatizing."

Ulrich looks in Jeremy's direction a little.

"Let's go back to my room and connect with Aelita. She can tell if this is Xana's doing."

"I... guess we can go," Ulrich says.

 **On the boy's dorm floor**

"What kind of phenomenon do you think this is anyways?" Ulrich asks.

"I honestly have no idea. Aelita is checking it out to see if Xana's up to anything," Jeremy says, then he takes his key out. He puts the key into the keyhole.

"I must have forgotten to lock the door," he says, taking the key out of the keyhole.

Putting his hand on the door's handle, he pushes it down then sighs. He opens the door, then we gasp.

 **Inside Jeremy's room**

Jeremy's room is a complete mess, his computer and other electronics, including his keyboard, are all destroyed. Bits and pieces of the keyboard are on the floor. Jeremy walks over to the keyboard, kneeling he holds it close to his chest.

"All of my equipment…"

Odd walks over to him and bends down. He pats Jeremy on the back, who is completely heartbroken.

"Maybe Sissi did this?" Ulrich asks.

Jeremy looks at Ulrich with a confused look, still holding the keyboard.

"She wouldn't have a reason to. Why would she?"

"True..." Ulrich agrees.

"It could have been Herb, he was mad when we saw him earlier," Odd reminds us.

"That's true. But I don't think Herb did this," I say. Jeremy turns and looks at me,

"Wait a minute...who was the last one to leave my room?"

"Well - I was, technically. But - Yumi left after me," I say, stammering a little

Drifting back to earlier, Yumi's words echo within me.

 **Flashback**

 _"You know something's seriously wrong with you," I glare at her._

 _"Out of all of us Lila... you're the strangest one," Yumi remarks._

" _What's that supposed to mean?"_

 _Yumi doesn't answer me, she just smiles at me._

 **End of flashback**

Snapping back into reality, I then say:

"It was definitely Yumi."

"That can't be, Yumi wouldn't do this," Ulrich disagrees shaking his head. Odd and Jeremy look at each other.

"She has been acting strange all day," Odd reminds him.

"Okay, maybe that's true. Yumi has been acting strange, Xana's still the enemy. Jeremy, you're right it looks like Xana has launched an attack," Ulrich says.

"Whatever is going on here... may be a way to distract us from protecting Aelita."

"Oh, Aelita! She's all alone on Lyoko and I told her to check out the situation! And now we can't communicate with her right now!" Jeremy exclaims with worry.

"Does that mean we're going to the scanners?" a voice asks. Turning to the voice coming from the doorway, we look to see its Yumi in the doorway. Odd, Ulrich, Jeremy, and I give her a look, staring at her Jeremy gets up and places his keyboard on the ground. Fixing his glasses he then nods,

"Yes, we're going," Jeremy agrees.

 **Inside the freight elevator**

The freight elevator is going down. Ulrich, Odd, Jeremy, and I look at Yumi again. We stop looking at her and try to focus.

 _I know what Xana's capable of and if for some reason, Xana possessed Yumi earlier in the timeline… we're going to be in a heap of trouble,_ I think.

The freight elevator stops, and Jeremy presses the button. The freight elevator's doors open and Jeremy walks into the lab. I press the red button, and the doors starts closing. The freight elevator starts going down.

 **Inside the scanner room**

Ulrich, Odd, and I walk into the scanner room. Ulrich takes the right scanner, Odd takes the middle scanner, and I take the left scanner. Looking at Yumi who is leaning against the elevator, she is looking at us with an annoyed expression for some reason. Turning back to the scanner Odd says,

"We're ready when you are Jeremy," Odd says. Turning to Yumi, I ask her:

"Yumi, would you like to go first? I don't mind,"

Shaking her head she replies,

"No. Just go."

I raise my eyebrow, and once again turn to look at the scanner.

Something's not right with her… that's for sure

"I'm starting the process," Jeremy informs. I step into the scanner, Ulrich and Odd step into the scanners as wells. The scanners doors close. Closing my eyes, I ready myself for virtualization.

 _"Transfer: Odd, Transfer: Ulrich, Transfer: Lila,"_ The scanner starts spinning.

 _"Scanner: Odd, Scanner: Ulrich, Scanner: Lila,"_ The scanner continues to spin and then starts humming.

 _"Virtualization!"_

The familiar gush of wind and bright light engulfs me, billowing my hair and time machine necklace. I'm virtualized to Lyoko.

 **Ice Sector**

Opening my eyes, I look to see Ulrich, Odd, and I are descending to the ice sector. Landing perfectly on the ice, we look up and wait for Yumi to land.

A minute or so passes, and we still haven't seen Yumi land for some reason.

"Jeremy, did you start the transfer yet?" Ulrich asks.

"I did. Don't tell me she's not with you," Jeremy worries.

"She's not," Ulrich says.

Hearing lasers from a distance, the three of us turn to the direction they're coming from. Aelita is running away from a group of Kankrelats.

"That way!" Odd exclaims.

I start running to Aelita. Ulrich and Odd are following behind me. Aelita slides to us panting heavily.

"It's okay; we're here," I say, trying to reassure her. She smiles.

A Kankrelat charges its laser and fires it. Ulrich super speeds in front of Aelita and I, he starts blocking the lasers with his Katana. Helping Aelita up, I start chanting in Latin.

"Exardesco!" I exclaim. My amulet starts glowing and taking out my staff I jump into the air, Swinging my staff, I unleash several Fire Bolts flying to the three Kankrelats, One by one, each Fire Bolt hits the Kankrelat, causing them to explode.

 _"Lila, just remember you still have a limit on your Fire Bolts. Odd, same goes for you. Unlike Lila's, I can reload your Laser Arrows, Odd. I'll re-load you as soon as you're out."_

"Understood Einstein! I've got the last two!" Odd exclaims. Cocking his arm, he begins running to the Kankrelat and fires off two lasers arrows. The laser arrow flies to the first Kankrelat, making an impact, the second laser arrow flies into the Kankrelat, the Kankrelat explodes. in the different directions. Ulrich and I sheathe our weapons, Odd lowers his paw. The three of us walk to Aelita.

"We've got to hurry so that we can free Yumi," Aelita informs.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Yumi's back on-" Ulrich starts, but Aelita shakes her head.

"Our Yumi has been on Lyoko," she explains pointing to a tall glacier, "Xana created a clone. Jeremy whatever you do, don't go near Yumi. Do you understand?"

Looking at the sky, for some reason, Jeremy isn't responding.

"Jeremy, can you hear me?" Aelita asks.

Continuing to wait to hear his voice, Jeremy for whatever reason doesn't speak.

"Something must be wrong, we need to hurry!" I exclaim.

"She's right, let's go!" Ulrich exclaims we start running.

 **Afterwards**

Reaching the top of the glacier, we walk to what looks like a small ball of energy floating just a few feet above the ice. Inside the small ball of energy, Yumi is encased within. There is a single Kankrelat guarding the ball of energy. Ulrich starts walking to the Kankrelat, he stops and unsheathes his sword. He closes his eyes and readies his sword. The Kankrelat turns to us and begins charging its laser. Firing the laser, Ulrich yells then swings his sword. The laser hits his sword, reflecting off it and sends the laser bouncing from one ice wall, to the Kankrelat. The laser hits the Kankrelat and it explodes. Aelita and I walk up to him.

"It's a guardian. A sort of digital jail adapted to the body imprisoned in it," Aelita explains.

Walking up to the guardian, Ulrich swings his Katana and impales it. Electricity is sent throughout Ulrich's Katana. Taking the Katana out of the guardian, he turns to Aelita,

"I can't destroy it with my weapon."

"I'll create a false representation of Yumi, we can try and convince the guardian he's mistaken," Aelita says.

With a concerned look; Ulrich looks at Yumi. Nodding to Aelita, he says:

"Okay let's go."

Aelita kneels on the ice and folds her hands. Starting to sing, her creation abilities start forming the image. The image of Yumi is in a fighting position and her fan is open. The Guardian starts rumbling and it explodes, a gush of heat billowing us. The heat evaporates. Ulrich walks to Yumi, lifting her waist so that she can look up, at him. Looking at her with a concerned look, he asks:

"Yumi? Can you hear me?"

Blinking a few times, Yumi groans weakly.

"What's going on?"

Odd leaps to an ice wall, landing in a crab position.

"Sorry, no time explain. We've got to deactivate the tower," Odd says.

Aelita gets up and looking at the sky, a concerned look is forming on her face. She then looks at us.

"Jeremy's still not responding. I don't understand. I've got the feeling something is wrong," Aelita worries.

"He's probably with the other one," I say.

"And if she's successful in destroying the scanners, it's all over," Ulrich grimaces.

"Who are you talking about? Who wants to destroy the scanners?" Yumi asks.

"Yumi... it's another version of you," Odd replies.

Yumi's eyes widen. She slowly pulls herself back on her feet and looks at us.

"If something happens to Jeremy and we can't deactivate the tower in time... we'll lose him forever. This is bad, someone should go back to reality," Yumi says.

"I can go," Ulrich offers.

"For all, we know Ulrich, I could have five life points left. I won't be helpful here, and if there's another me out there, then I need to take care of her. It's a fight between me and me," Yumi explains.

"Okay, now the only problem is to figure out how to devirtualize you," Ulrich says.

"You have a Katana," Yumi reminds him. Looking at his Katana, Ulrich steps back a few feet. He starts to unsheathe it.

"Are you ready?" Ulrich asks.

"Yes," Yumi replies.

Ulrich swings his Katana and strikes Yumi. Yumi's body begins to di-pixelates and she devirtualizes.

 **Afterwards**

The four of us manage to make it to the lower ground without a problem. Aelita is hiding behind an ice glacier, that's near us. Noting that Xana, has always sent monsters in the past to the guard the tower, I ask Odd:

"How does the tower look?"

"Let me check," Odd replies. He starts running on a nearby ice wall and buries his paws on the ice and starts climbing it. He reaches the vantage point.

"Uh-oh… we've got company," Odd exclaims.

"Odd, watch out! On your right!" Aelita warns. Turning to his right, a Kankrelat fires a laser. Without enough reaction time, the laser hits Odd throwing him off the wall. Running to him, Ulrich and I take defensive action. Rolling to the ground, we roll in front of Odd and unsheathe our weapons. Looking behind me, we're just a few feet away from the digital sea.

"Guys be careful. We need to make more room, and go in for an attack," I say. Chanting the word Exardesco, my amulet starts glowing.

The Kankrelats start charging their lasers and launches their attacks. Odd places his hands on the ground and cartwheels away. I start running in the same direction, trying not to break my concentration on the spell. For some reason, it's taking longer for my staff to charge its magical power. However, the incoming lasers fire at Odd and I. Odd is thrown back onto the ice, as I fall face flat onto the ice, my amulet stops glowing.

 _Ugh… stupid move,_ I think.

Super speeding our way, Ulrich quickly takes out his Katana and readies a defense. The Kankrelats start firing off their lasers, and he blocks them with the blade. Getting back up on my feet, I start chanting my Fire Bolt spell again. Hoping I can still use them, and that the Kankrelat didn't cost me any just now.

"Odd, you wouldn't happen to know how many life points we have left?" Ulrich asks. Taking out my staff, my amulet starts glowing.

"I don't know, but it's got to be less than ten right now," Odd replies.

My amulet stops glowing, and I swing my staff. Two Fire Bolts flies straight ahead to one of the Kankrelats, the first one engulfs the Kankrelat with fire. The Kankrelat explodes. The second Kankrelat charges its laser and fires twice at the Fire Bolt, it explodes. I frown.

"Dumb cockroach."

In return, the Kankrelat starts charging its laser again. The second Kankrelat to the right fires at Odd. The laser makes an impact, and Odd nearly loses his balance again. But he quickly regains it, by cartwheeling over to Aelita.

"I didn't devirtualize? Well, I guess I was wrong," Odd says.

"Math is your worse subject," Ulrich remarks.

"And I wasn't keeping count," I add.

"True, and Ulrich because of you I know how to count to three," Odd jokes.

Ulrich starts running to the Kankrelats. "Triplicate!" Ulrich exclaims, running in a triangle he makes two more versions of himself.

The Kankrelats fire at one of Ulrich's clone. The clone is hit by the lasers and the two remaining Ulrich's jump in the air. The Kankrelats begin charging their lasers again. The two Ulrich's land back on the ground, and use their Katana's to reflect the lasers, back to the Kankrelats. The Kankrelats explode.

"Fusion!" Ulrich exclaims, his clone returning to him. He puts his Katana away, and I sheathe my staff. Odd walks up to us.

"It's your turn now Aelita," Ulrich says.

"Please make sure Jeremy and Yumi are safe," I say.

"I will," Aelita nods, then she starts running to the tower. She runs into the tower, easily phasing into it. Looking at the tower's aura, I see it turning from red to blue.

A big white bubble appears engulfing us all, sending us back in time.

 **Earlier that day**

 **Back in Jeremy's room**

Aelita's window is open on Jeremy's monitor. Ulrich and Yumi, are sitting on his bed. I sit on the ground with Odd.

 _I can't help but wonder why Yumi's clone thought I was the strangest one in the group? There's no way she can know I'm a time traveler! If she knows that means Xana knows!_ I think. Aelita decides to speak up, breaking the silence.

 _"It's amazing don't you think? Xana created another version of Yumi and managed to materialize her to Earth. This proves one thing: Materialization really is possible,"_ Aelita says.

"It's almost as if Xana's trying to help with our research for materialization," Yumi says.

"Better get back to work Einstein," Odd smiles.

Aelita's window disappears, turning to us Jeremy smiles.

"It'll be a piece of cake. I can start now."

"Why not just ask Xana? He seems to know all of the answers," Odd jokes.

Scoffing, Ulrich replies:

"Forget it, I wouldn't trust him after the Yumi he sent to us."

"Come on, she wasn't too different from our Yumi," Odd defends.

"She totally was," I say.

"That's for sure. I wasn't fooled at all, I knew she wasn't the real Yumi the second she started to flirt with me," Jeremy says.

"And how do you know, I'm the real Yumi? I could be another clone," Yumi says. Getting up from Jeremy's bed, she starts walking to him. She takes Jeremy's glasses off and he starts blushing profusely.

"Um..." Jeremy trails off. "What do you think you're doing?" he asks, Yumi smiles.

Getting up from the bed with an annoyed look, Ulrich walks up to Yumi. He places a hand on her shoulder.

"I definitely can't deal with that again," Ulrich tells her, "Once is enough."

Letting go of his hand, Yumi then turns to Ulrich. Jeremy puts his glasses back on.

"You're not jealous, are you Ulrich?" she asks,

"Um..." Ulrich trails off.

"I think he is," Odd smiles holding his thumb up.

Winking at Ulrich, he can't help but frown at Yumi. Yumi, Odd, Jeremy, and I laugh at Ulrich's annoyance.

 _Don't worry Ulrich... one day you and Yumi are going to be married. And this time... you and her will live a long happy marriage. I'll make sure of it_. I think.

 **And done! Don't forget to review!**

 **LyokoWarrior1994**


	11. End of Take

**This chapter was written by me and edited by UndeadMonkey8. It was also consulted on by AeroJester203.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko! All copy righting belongs to Moonscoop. I only own my OCs.**

 **I also do not own the movie Alien… that is owned by 20** **th** **century fox. Copyrighting goes to them. Also… I've never seen the movie Alien… so don't hate me for that okay? The creature in Code Lyoko was either based on the creature Alien or the movie Predator, which is also owned by 20** **th** **century fox.**

 **That's it for the disclaimers. Enjoy the chapter!**

 _End of Take_

 **In the gymnasium**

 **POV Lila's**

Someone nudges me awake, and I then open my eyes. Opening them to the ending of the film, I look around the gymnasium to see that there was a lot of students here for the showing.

"Totally ridiculous, you even fell asleep," Jeremy says and I start getting up slowly.

"I - did?" I ask groggily.

"Yeah you did. You missed everything, which really was nothing to be honest," Jeremy answers bluntly.

"No way! I thought that was great," Ulrich says.

Sitting up straight, the screen starts rolling. Looking at the names in the credits, I recognize one the director's name: "James Finson." The projector screen then turns off, and the lights turn on.

 _Wow... I really did fall asleep… and why do I know that name? James Finson… hm…_ I think.

"I thought the special effects were pretty good, but it wasn't scary," Odd says.

"You're kidding. How come your teeth were chattering? For the sound effects?" Yumi jokes. I start laughing, as Ulrich, Yumi, and Jeremy laugh with me. Crossing his arms, Odd looks at us, annoyed. Looking at our classmates, they start clapping as one of them whistles with excitement. On the other side of the gymnasium, I look over to see that some of my classmates look confused.

 _I guess not everyone appreciates this Finson's guy's film… I'm glad I fell asleep,_ I think.

" _Students, can I have your attention please? I would like you all to give a warm welcome to the director of the film you have just seen. And which we all found... very interesting. And here he is now: James Finson, who is honoring us with his presence today to discuss his work in the fascinating field of cinema_ ," Mr. Delmas claps and he moves away from the microphone, allowing Mr. Finson to talk. Mr. Finson walks on stage, and walking up to the microphone, he stops. Clearing his throat, he grabs the microphone. Looking at Mr. Finson, I notice he's at least six feet tall and has black hair. He has brown eyes. He is wearing a dark blue collared jacket, along with a red t-shirt, blue jeans, and brown shoes.

 _"That's right and I'm also here to look for locations to shoot for my new film,"_ Mr. Finson announces. Looking around, I start seeing a lot of faces brighten up with excitement. Turning to Ulrich and Odd, their faces are filled with excitement.

 _I guess Odd did enjoy the film, even if he was a bit scared,_ I think.

"In fact, I heard there's an old factory around here, which nobody uses anymore and which I'm very interested in," Mr. Finson continues.

"A factory?" Jeremy asks, widening his eyes he then makes a realization.

"Oh no, not ours!"

 **Later**

 **In Lila's room**

Walking into my room, I close the door behind me. I see that Mary is typing on the copy of my father's laptop again.

"Why are you up so late?" I ask, and then place my bag on the ground. I start walking to my bed.

"I've been trying to do some research by using your father's old video diaries. I've only managed to access a few of them, and somehow the information is still intact. I imagine because it was inside the time machine, it wasn't affected by the grandfather paradox. You told me how Xana sent a clone recently?" Mary asks, and reaching my bed I push myself onto it.

"Yeah I did. Though… I can't help but wonder if the clone, was on Lyoko before I blacked out? I suppose it's possible. For one thing, I'm sure it wasn't the Ninjas, that Dr. Tyron used in Cortex. It couldn't have been. It's too early in the timeline. Xana never developed his own warrior."

"That's true. Though… I do have one theory. I think Xana was trying to clone a warrior to fight all of you. That would explain why he possessed William Dunbar the first time. To him... William was someone he easily manipulated, a perfect warrior."

"Maybe… I guess we'll never know," I shrug.

 **The next day**

 **Outside the cafeteria**

Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, Jeremy, and I are outside the cafeteria. Looking at the line outside of it, I roll my eyes.

 _How could anyone possibly like this guy's movie?_ I think.

"If this Finson guy finds out about our supercomputer, we're in trouble," Jeremy frets.

"We've absolutely have to stop him from using it," Yumi agrees.

"Yeah sure we do. But how?" Odd asks.

"I think I have an idea," I reply.

"Me too. There's nothing to worry about," Ulrich says.

 **In the cafeteria**

Walking into the line, Ulrich and I wait as a group of students and Sissi are ahead of us.

"Ulrich... look," I say.

Looking with me, Ulrich says:

"I guess I shouldn't be too surprised she's here..." he then sighs.

 **Later**

The line shortened, Ulrich and I approach Mr. Finson's security guard. The security guard closes the entrance, by lifting a rope and connecting it to another barrier pole. Looking at Sissi I notice how excited she is. Grabbing a pen, Mr. Finson starts signing his name on a poster of him.

"Oh, I'm so glad to meet you Mr. Finson. I just loved your film, I'm a big fan of yours," Sissi says.

"Oh well really? I can't argue with your taste, I like my films too," Mr. Finson nods.

 _Of course, you do it's your own film! Gee this guy is a bit of an egomaniac,_ I think.

"What's your name?" Mr. Finson asks.

"Um why don't you just write "To Sissi, rising star, who'd you like to give the leading role to my next film," Sissi suggests.

"I think I'm going to write "To Sissi, who's got a lot of nerve," Mr. Finson rebuttals.

"And a lot of talent," Sissi adds.

"Well I'm very sorry Sissi, but the casting is over. The parts have all been pushed in. So, better luck next time huh?" Mr. Finson asks handing his autograph. Grabbing the autograph, Sissi angrily walks away from him.

"My friend and I just need to talk to Mr. Finson for a second, we're not getting an autograph," I say to his guard, who nods. Removing the rope from the barrier, Ulrich and I walk up to Mr. Finson who is starting to sign his next autographs. Clearing his throat, Ulrich gets Mr. Finson's attention and he looks up at us.

"Hello, sir. The factory you were talking about, I was wondering if you have already been there?" Ulrich asks.

"No, but I'm going to start my scouting there later today," Mr. Finson replies. Taking the two autographs from the stack, he hands them to us. Putting his hand up, Ulrich shakes his head and Mr. Finson puts his autographs back on the table.

"Well see, here's the thing. My friend and I know the place inside and out. We practice soccer a lot there, and we really feel that you can't find anybody else more suited for such a historical moment," I say.

Mr. Finson chuckles.

"It looks like everyone in this school has a lot of nerve," he says.

"We don't! It's just that… we think we're the right people to help you is all," I say.

"Well… alright. What harm can it do?" he asks.

 **In the factory**

Ulrich and I walk Mr. Finson through the factory, taking the scenic route we pass by a few old materials, comprising of different types of metal.

"Fantastic, it's even better than I thought," Mr. Finson compliments.

"Yeah it looks alright, but the trouble is it's falling apart. Hopefully, the ceiling won't fall on our heads," Ulrich lies. Looking above the ceiling Mr. Finson scratches his head, perhaps out of concern for the safety of his crew.

"Hey, do you remember the most recent time we played soccer?" I ask Ulrich.

"Oh yeah, that was bad," he replies catching on. Mr. Finson lowering his head he looks at us.

"What happened?"

"See we were playing soccer one time and we could have sworn we kicked the ball over down to those steps over there," I point to the steps nearby. "But when we got to the front of the door, the ball was gone! It's as if this play is haunted."

"Oh, that's great! I love a dangerous shoot. That's what I always look for, an actor is always better under pressure and when they're scared," Mr. Finson says. He starts walking in the direction of the front entrance.

"Mr. Finson, wait a minute!" I exclaim. Running to Mr. Finson, Ulrich and I stop and then reach him.

"You should really be careful… see this place is crawling with rats," Ulrich says.

Turning to us, Mr. Finson smiles at us.

"Rats? That's lucky. I've got some big scenes to shoot with rats in it."

 _Of COURSE you do,_ I think. Walking with Mr. Finson, we start getting closer to the front entrance. Reaching it, he then turns to the freight elevator, Mr. Finson looks at it.

"Do you know where this freight elevator leads to?"

"Oh, that old thing? It stopped working ages ago you see," I reply.

Hearing moaning from high up, I sigh internally.

 _That was probably one of the others…_ I think.

"Anyways… I'm not sure it'll work for your set," Ulrich says.

"That's alright. This place just keeps getting better and better than I thought. And you two seem to know every nook and cranny of it. I know!" he exclaims. Snapping his fingers, Mr. Finson asks:

"How would the two of you like to work as technical advisers on our film?"

"Well - see- see the thing is I'm rather shy around people," I admit.

"I understand. But just think about it, you'll have a chance to be less shy with the people you'll interact with."

"True I suppose..." I trail off.

Ulrich and I look at each, and then back at Mr. Finson.

"Do you really want us to help you? Are you serious?" Ulrich asks.

"Of course, I am," Mr. Finson answers. Hearing more moaning from high up, it stops. "Those ghosts of yours are pretty enthusiastic about it anyways."

"Ha… yeah, they're. It would be a great honor sir," Ulrich says. "The only problem is our principal would never let us miss a class."

"I mean if he says yes, then I would be more than happy to," I say.

"Great, then let me talk to him," Mr. Finson says. "I'm sure I can get him to say yes."

 **After talking to Mr. Delmas**

 **Outside the principal's office**

"Wow, he said no. Incredible," Mr. Finson says, rubbing his hand on his neck in disappointment. "I even promised to put his name in the credits." Hearing the door creak, I recognize the yellow band holding her hair together. Sissi opens the door.

"Mr. Finson, can I talk to you for a second?"

The three of us look at Sissi.

 **Later in Jeremy's room**

Sitting on the floor, Ulrich, Odd, and I cross our legs.

"She managed to convince Delmas to let Lila and I miss class. Of course – Sissi just HAD to get a part," Ulrich finishes.

"I don't believe it. Sissi got a part in Finson's film," Jeremy says, shaking his head. "When she wants something, she'll get it one way or another."

"Maybe as far as her movie career goes, I don't know about everything else. She always gets permission from her father, whenever something involves her."

"Ulrich and Sissi working together on a film. This can be the beginning of a great romance. And Lila can shofar them," Odd jokes.

Glaring at Odd, I tell him:

"Odd number one: I don't drive. Number two: I am not ANYONE's chauffeur. Got it?"

"Okay, okay. It was just a joke," Odd defends.

"I'm not going to have any time to myself with Sissi nearby. At least you'll have some time by yourself Lila," Ulrich says, looking at me.

"That's true," I nod.

"Yours' and Lila's real job is to be there in the factory making sure that nobody discovers our lab," Jeremy reminds. Aelita's window pop's up from Jeremy's computer screen.

 _"Come on. It's not going to be as sad as all that,"_ she reasons, seemingly she overheard our conversation. Looking at Aelita, I shake my head.

"You don't know Sissi Aelita. She's well… difficult. And I have a feeling she's going to put Ulrich and me to work."

Nodding in agreement, Ulrich sighs:

"This is going to be such a drag."

 **Later, on the bridge**

"Are you sure it's not too heavy?" Sissi asks. Holding one of Sissi's bags, Ulrich is lugging her suitcase across the bridge. Adjusting my backpack's shoulder straps, I struggle to hold Sissi's bag.

"No…. not too much at all," I reply sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

"I wasn't talking to you! Ulrich dear, how are you holding up?"

"Fine," Ulrich replies, ignoring the comment.

"To think, I'm going to become a big star, and this is where it starts! You two should be grateful for experiencing this moment," Sissi says. Gripping her bag in annoyance, I sigh internally trying to resist the urge of chucking it into the riverbank.

 **Front entrance**

Reaching the front of the factory, a table is at the entrance and three people are here to greet us. A woman with red hair, blue eyes, and glasses, with a black work suit and matching pants, is sitting on a chair. Looking to the right, she has two security guards wearing yellow jackets. Walking up to the table, Sissi speaks up.

"Oh hello. Mr. Finson is expecting us," Sissi greets, placing her hand on the table.

"Do you have cell phones by any chance?" The woman asks us.

"Uh, cell phones? Why of course, why wouldn't we?" Sissi asks.

"Confiscated, Mr. Finson's orders," The woman replies. Holding out her hand, she beckons us to give her the phones.

"Ma'am uh see I have medical issues and-" I start to explain; the woman starts shaking her head. Getting a bin from the ground, which conveniently labeled cell phones, we drop our cellphones into the bin.

 **Inside the factory**

Walking inside the factory, we're greeted by a man. Looking at him, he has glasses, brown hair and brown eyes. He's wearing an opened collar grey shirt, with a black t – shirt, brown pants, and brown shoes.

"The name's Sam. Let's show you, around shall we?" Sam asks. Nodding, the three of us start walking through the factory. Multiple cameras are being set up, and crew members are moving through the set.

"During the shooting, it's forbidden to communicate with the outside world without Finson's okay. That's so that there are no leaks, or newspaper gossip. That's why everyone also sleeps here with guards at the entrance. A part from all that, it's a lot of fun," he explains, and we continue walking through the set.

"Yes, but what if we have to get in touch with our parents for example?" Ulrich asks. "In case there's a problem huh?"

"When you shoot with James Finson, there's never a problem."

"But I have medical problems. I faint sometimes, and I get anxiety," I inform.

"We have a medical team for other crew members who have medical problems. Not to worry," he reassures. "If you truly need a cell phone during an emergency; I'm sure Mr. Finson will allow it."

Grabbing Ulrich's arm, Sissi pulls Ulrich behind us. Looking at Sam, I ask him:

"So… where exactly does Mr. Finson get his inspiration from?"

Sam looks at me,

"Mr. Finson as a kid grew up watching sci fi movies. He was particularly fond of a movie series called _Star Wars._ Then there was this movie called _The Matrix._ He also loves _Star Trek_."

"Oh neat," I shrug. Reaching the end of the tour, Sam ushers us to the side where Mr. Finson and his crew are gathering. People start talking among themselves, and I look at them.

 _There's so many people here… I'm glad Mary bought me a few things to keep me pre-occupied at night. But all of these people here… ugh anxiety is the worse. I hope I don't freak out,_ I think. Some of the crew members make room for Mr. Finson, who is walking to the covered object.

Looking at the covered object, I stare and shudder at it.

 _Why do I have a bad feeling about this thing?_ I think. Reaching the covered object, Mr. Finson stands to the side of it. Placing his hands on the side of the tarp, he readies to unveil it.

"Hello all, I'm glad everyone can make it. It's time for the big unveil of the main character, in the movie," Mr. Finson says. "Get ready... now." Pulling the tarp off, my eyes widen. A green skinned creature, is chained to a wooden cross. Looking at the creature, I notice it's long tentacles attached to its head, which looks a bit robotic. Looking at the peculiar rib cage, then it's arms, legs, and tail, I see that it has a scaly pattern.

"I think, it's my best monster to date," Mr. Finson says, "The best part about him, is that I've created a way for him squirt disgusting, slime," he explains.

"It'll be great."

Raising my hand, I ask:

"Uh… sir, how exactly did you create this creature?"

"I designed the creature myself. It's great isn't it?"

"Yes but-"

"You know… this creature of yours looks like another creature I saw in a different movie. I think the movie was called," Ulrich starts snapping his fingers. "Oh I got it! Alie-"

"It is absolutely NOT from the movie Alien!" he exclaims. Offended, Mr. Finson walks away from us and his crew. Sissi starts running to him, and Sam pats Ulrich on the back. A woman puts her hand on Ulrich's shoulder.

She has dark red hair, is wearing a black tank top, with ankle high brown jeans. On her waist is an empty hoister.

"He gets a bit emotional sometimes. Don't worry about it," she says to Ulrich. Staring, at the creature I ask Sam and his friend:

"I know this thing is a prop but how will it be controlled?"

Sam points up to a thread of metal rope, that is also attached to the creature.

 _I know I've seen this creature before… but where?_ I think.

 **In Lila's tent**

Checking my watch, that Mary had packed me in my backpack, the time reads 9:00pm. Searching the bag, I take a book out.

 _I'm glad Mary was able to pack a book for me to read. I wonder which one it is?_ I think. Turning to the book's front cover, looking at the title, I can't help but giggle a little. _Theories and Quantum mechanics on time travel._

 _You had to get this book Mary…_ I think. Setting my watch for an alarm, at 6:00 in the morning, I grab the flashlight in my bag and open the book. Shining the flashlight onto the book, I start flipping the pages to its first chapter.

 **In Lila's Memory**

 _"Dad! What are those ugly things?!" I exclaim. A few creatures, with robotic heads, long arms, legs, and tails continue chasing my father and me._

 _"They were used in a very old film, and a director named James Finson created the design of the creature for the film. Xana possessed it, and our Xana now must have remembered doing so! We're trapped!" he exclaims._

 _Running into a dark alley, the creatures start walking towards us. We start backing up._

 _Raising their arms, they start charging their lasers. Hearing yelling from behind them, the creatures are shot by energy lasers. One by one, they start going down. With the last creature falling, my father and I look up at the man who just saved us. He's clad in a purple outfit, matching pants, and black boots. Attached to his waist is a belt with two hoisters. Spinning his silver laser guns, he places them into the hoisters. Looking at him directly, I notice his hair is long and brown. He has brown eyes._

 _Taking my hand, my father and I walk up to him._

" _Odd… is that you?" my father asks._

 _"Nice to see you two! Long time no see!" he exclaims happily, giving thumbs up._

 **End of Lila's Memory**

 **Inside Lila's tent**

Gasping awake, I shoot up from my sleeping bag. The book falling from my lap, it falls onto the floor of the tent. I take a deep breath in and out, trying to calm down.

 _Now I know why Finson's name sounded so familiar! Xana stole his design! And uncle Odd in the future saved my father and I from those creatures… If the creature is here now… then… Oh no! That means this is when Xana uses the creature for an attack! I've got to warn the others!_ I think.

 **Afterwards**

Reaching the lab, I climb down the ladder and land on the floor. Ulrich and Sissi look at me.

"Uh, Ulrich what's Sissi doing here in the lab?" I ask.

He rubs the back of his head,

"She followed me here," he explains. "What are you doing here?"

"Listen I think Xana's about to-" I start to say, and then feel something dropping onto my shoulder. Looking at my shoulder, there's some sort of green slime on it.

Eyes widening, I look up at the ceiling. The creature growls at us.

Sissi screams in terror and I look back at them, frozen in fear.

 _That's – that's the creature from my dreams!_ I think.

The creature then shoots slime at the monitor, and ducking to the floor, Ulrich dodges the slime.

" _what's -going on?!"_ Jeremy exclaims from the monitor. Running to me, Ulrich takes my hand. We then run to Sissi and grabbing her hand, the three of us run to the freight elevator. Getting to the elevator, we run in it and Ulrich presses the red button. The freight elevator's doors close, and it starts ascending. Panting, we then sigh in relief.

"That was close," he says, turning to me he asks:

"How did you know Xana was planning an attack?"

"On my way here, the creature had already broken free. And I-" I start to explain but Sissi interrupts me.

"What's a Xana?"

"Never mind that-" Ulrich says, and then the elevator starts creaking. Looking down at the floor, dents start forming as the creature is trying to break through the floor. Backing up in fear, we hit our backs against the wall. Punching through the floor, Sissi throws herself to Ulrich and the two cling to two each other. Trying to grab one of us, the creature's hand then retreats.

"We need to get out of here," I say. Looking up at the emergency shaft, I turn to Ulrich and Sissi, who then realize they are clinging to each other. Ulrich jerks away.

"Can you help me up?" I ask.

"Right," Ulrich nods. Stepping aside, Ulrich cups his hands and I step on them. Grunting in pain, he steadily lifts me up. Reaching for the emergency shaft's handle bar, I pull the shaft open. Grabbing the side of the shaft, I lift myself up, to the top of the elevator. Kneeling I lower my hand. Nodding to Sissi, Ulrich gives her the okay to go first. She starts jumping, and I barely catch her hand. Pulling her up, and out of the freight elevator, Sissi kneels beside me. Ulrich starts jumping, and grabbing both of his, hands we start pulling him up. Getting Ulrich out of the freight elevator, I look down to see the creature's hands pulling the floor apart. Closing the shaft, I lock it and I then look at the ladder.

"Ulrich, Sissi. I hope you two aren't afraid of heights. We have some climbing to do."

"I can handle this," Ulrich nods.

"How far is this climb?" Sissi asks.

"Not far, we were nearly half way up when the creature attacked us. If we start climbing, we can make it to a vent that should be nearby."

"Right, let's get going!" Ulrich exclaims. Grabbing the bars of the ladder, I start climbing. Sissi follows behind me, then Ulrich starts climbing.

 **In Lila's Memory**

 _Walking out of the alley, my father, Odd, and I start walking the empty streets of Paris. Keeping an eye out for more creatures, Odd starts talking._

" _Our mutual friend told us you had decided to go into town to search for something. What were you thinking, and why bring Lila?"_

" _She… she needed to be outside a little. Being in that house of ours… it's not good for her. And… the material we were searching for was…" My father answers._

 _Turning to him; Odd looks at my father._

" _Uranium for that time machine of yours?"_

 _My father's eyes widen, "Yeah. How did you know?"_

" _Like I said our mutual friend told me. Jeremy… time travel is crazy. It can't fix what's already been done. It…it can't bring Aelita back."_

" _Lila hasn't heard about time travel since she was very young. I'm not trying to bring Aelita back… I'm trying to save all of us. Besides… I heard about what happened in Barcelona. Did Yumi and Ulrich make it out?"_

 _Shaking his head Odd replies:_

" _We haven't heard from them since it happened… since Xana blew it off the map."_

" _I see… I'm sorry to hear that. With this Uranium…" my father trails off and shoulders his backpack. "I truly hope it we will have enough power to charge the time machine. Once it's completed."_

 **End of Lila's dream**

 **Sometime later**

Gasping awake, Ulrich and Sissi looks at me in concern. Looking around, I notice we're still in the inner backroom.

 _That memory… why would I forget that?_ I think.

"You've been out the entire time. Are you okay Lila?" Sissi asks.

"I… I am thanks," I smile slightly. "Do you think the creature followed us?"

"Probably," Ulrich says, "And Finson is probably wondering where his creation is."

"That creature… Ulrich… I could have-" Stammering, my hand starts shaking. Seeing this Ulrich grabs a hold of my hand, cupping it.

"Sissi and I were there. Don't think about that. We made it through; that's what counts."

"There's still something I don't understand – what is Xana? Is he controlling the costume?" Sissi asks.

"It's a long story… but yeah basically," Ulrich replies, letting go of my hand he then looks at Sissi.

"If only we could call for help. Then our friends could reach us."

"And that's the group you two are a part of, right? What could your friends-" Sissi starts explaining, and we hear a loud crash nearby. Raising his finger to his lips, Ulrich shushes Sissi and she nods. Looking for the creature, we start hearing footsteps approaching the inner backroom.

 _If the creature finds us… I'm not sure what we'll be able to do…_ I think.

The creature appears at the entrance of the inner backroom, my eyes widening, it then starts running towards us. Opening its mouth, it shoots slime at us. Ulrich crashes against the wall, then the slime hits Sissi and I. Crashing against the wall, the slime then hardens.

Reaching us, the creature looks at Sissi. Jerking her head away in fear, the creature licks her cheek. Groaning in disgust, Sissi shudders and then the creature looks at me. Turning away from me, the creature starts retreating out of the room.

 **Afterwards**

 _I really hope one of the others have realized something's wrong… even if it's a member of Finson's crew! Heck Finson himself! We just need someone to rescue us! It feels like we've been stuck on the wall for more than a few hours… I really hope Aelita, Odd, and Yumi are on Lyoko. One of them must be. I'm sure of it!_ I think.

"Why does this Xana creature want to hurt us? I mean, what have we ever done to it?" Sissi asks, starts weeping. "It just isn't fair!"

"Sissi… the creature isn't after you. It's after us, see… the thing is trying to use Lila and I as bait. It's trying to attract our friends," Ulrich explains, trying to calm her down.

"I still don't understand! What can your friends have to do this?" Sissi asks.

"We've been in similar situations like this before. See-" I start explaining, but hearing a noise from where the creature had first entered the inner backroom, we tense up. Ulrich, Sissi, and I see raven hair at the entrance. Sighing in relief, Ulrich and I yell:

"Yumi!"

Turning to us, she gasps and then starts running toward us.

"I'm going to get you down!"

Reaching us, she looks at Sissi.

"Don't move okay?"

"I won't," Sissi answers. Taking out a pocket knife, she places the knife on the molted slime, Yumi starts cutting it. Bit by bit, the knife cuts through the hardened slime. Falling to the floor, Sissi tries to get up. Going to her, Yumi helps Sissi up from the floor. She then goes to Ulrich. She starts cutting Ulrich down. Yumi's make another cut and dropping to the floor Ulrich lands safely. Turning to me, Yumi starts cutting the hardened slime.

Falling to the floor, I land safely. The three of us start picking the hardened slime from our bodies.

"Tell me Odd's on Lyoko with Aelita," I say.

Looking at Sissi unsurely, Yumi then turns to me.

"As far as I know he went ahead. We need to get going, Finson's crew is searching for the three of you. The scaffolding would be difficult for them to get through this part of the factory, especially difficult if they didn't know how to find this backroom. They think you somehow got pass his security guards and took his creation. I heard he went back to campus, to try and look for you. I had to sneak around the sewers just to get to you. And it wasn't easy."

"Thanks, Yumi," I say.

"Yeah thanks," Ulrich says, "We owe you one big time."

"I just never want to see that hideous creature again!" Sissi exclaims.

 **Afterwards**

Ulrich, Sissi, Yumi, and I start walking to a door nearby.

"It's weird how the monster just gave up," Ulrich says, rubbing his head. "I just have a bad feeling about this."

Hearing creaking from above, the four of us gulp. Taking her phone out Yumi presses a number on it. The phone starts ringing.

"Answer Jeremy," Yumi says hopefully and we start picking up our pace to the door nearby.

" _Yumi! Odd and Aelita are almost to the tower! Did you find them?"_ Jeremy asks, his voice on speaker phone.

"Yes but Jeremy-" Yumi starts explaining. A loud crash comes from the ceiling, pulling Yumi to the side, Ulrich and Yumi barely miss the falling debris. I pull Sissi aside and some of the debris crushes Yumi's phone, smashing it. The creature landing safely, it starts running toward us. Grabbing a pipe, that had fallen with the debris Ulrich starts running.

"Ulrich!" Yumi exclaims, Sissi gasps. Taking a swing at the creature, Ulrich shouts and he tries to hit it. Grabbing the pipe with one hand, the creature easily takes it out of Ulrich's hand and then tosses it to the side. Using its' other hand, the creature grabs Ulrich by the throat.

"Let go of him!" I exclaim. Yumi and I start running, and the tentacles on the creature's head starts moving toward us. Wrapping around Yumi, some of the tentacles grab me by the waist as they lift Yumi and I in the air. It begins to squeeze us, and screaming in pain, my eyes start becoming blurry.

 **In Lila's memory**

 _"Say Jeremy, about that work in progress time travel machine… how long do you think it will take to get it up and running?"_

 _Fixing his glasses my father responds, "It's still going to take at least eight more years."_

 _"How come you haven't told me since I was little dad? I mean… I'm only fifteen years old and you keep a lot of secrets from me," I say._

 _Looking over to me my father nods,_

" _I do and they're to protect you."_

 _Hearing roaring from afar, the three of us turn to the direction of four more creatures. Their eyes start glowing red._

" _You two need to get going! I'll take care of them!" Odd exclaims. Taking his laser energy guns out of his hoisters, he starts yelling and begins running then starts firing off his laser energy guns. Grabbing my hand, my father and I start running away from Uncle Odd._

...

 _Gaining some miles between the creatures and Odd, my father and I stop running. We pant heavily._

" _We – we left Uncle Odd there all alone… Why?"_

" _If – if we didn't we would be… he'll be fine I'm sure of it."_

" _Dad I-" I start to say, but then hearing roaring again my father and I look ahead to see several creatures starting to run towards us._

" _No – we're trapped!" my father exclaims._

 **End of Lila's memory**

My vision returning, the creature continues squeezing my waist, screaming in pain I see Sissi is on the ground, crying. The world starts becoming blurry again. Suddenly, I fall to the ground.

The creature then releases Yumi and Ulrich, and deactivates. The three of gasp for breath. Picking herself up; Sissi walks up to us. Reaching us, she gives Ulrich a big hug. Sissi then hugs Yumi and starts crying again.

"It's okay Sissi…. Everything's going to go back to normal," I say. A big white bubble engulfs all of us.

 **Earlier the same day**

Waking back up, I shoot up from the bed. Gasping for breath, Mary runs over to me and reaching me, she starts patting my back.

"You're okay Lila. Just try to relax. What happened?"

"Finson's creature was possessed by Xana. I experienced… these memories of my past. Odd in the future he…."

Sitting on the bed with me, she stops patting my back and then breathes in and out. Looking at her, I start breathing in and out, trying to relax.

"Whatever you faced most likely triggered a buried memory. It happens sometimes with traumatic experiences."

"But if that's true… then why was my memory buried? I mean… it suggested Odd died facing the same creature Finson created. And in the future – my father said Xana remembered it when it was possessed the first time. That just happened the first time today. Somehow… my father and I escaped the creatures that surrounded us. But I'm not sure how."

"Perhaps you'll remember something. Someday," Mary says. Getting up from the bed, she walks back to the chair. Turning it towards me, she sits in it.

"What will our friends do about Mr. Finson this time?'

"I'm sure Ulrich will think of something. Mary… I need a day off from school today. Learning about my past… it wasn't Odd that just died in the future. Ulrich and Yumi died too... along with an entire country."

"Lila – I'm sorry. I had no idea… I'll see if I can talk to Mr. Delmas. I'll tell him that you're not feeling well. It's a good thing he doesn't know I'm living in the dorm… that's one less thing we don't have to worry about. I think from now on, I'm going to travel through the school's network systems only. It'll be less conspicuous."

"That sounds like a good plan Mary," I nod. "Also… thank you for that book you packed for me the first time. I enjoyed the first few chapters. Could you possibly buy it again please?"

"Of course. I'll see to that, after I finish speaking with Mr. Delmas. I'll leave now then," Mary says. Transforming into her smoke form, she wisps away into an outlet. Grabbing my pillow, tears start dripping down from my eyes and my cheeks.

 _Odd... Ulrich... Yumi... Everyone I ever loved, they were already dead. Dad, how in the world do you expect me to defeat Xana this time? Why – why would you put this burden on me?_ I wonder despairingly, while hugging my pillow closer.

 **And done! Such a long chapter!**

 **P.S. Lila's Journey MAY be on a SHORT hiatus. I have too many projects at school… BUT I promise the next chapter will have a LOT to offer :D I hope to update the story no later than May 15th.** **Don't forget to check for an alert in your email! If you haven't favored or followed the story yet, please do so if you can!**

 **Don't forget to review!**

 **Thank you!**

 **LyokoWarrior1994**


	12. Xana's attacking with a Satellite!

**This chapter was written by me and edited by AwesomeFanFictionAuthor.**

 **This chapter begins in Lila's future, with her POV. It will switch between the present and the future, like in the last chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own Code Lyoko. ALL copy righting goes to MoonScoop. I ONLY own Lila. Mary is owned by AeroJester203.**

 **Hope you enjoy the long-awaited update!**

 _Xana's attacking with a Satellite!_

 **In Lila's memory**

 _We've been hiding out in our home ever since we went into the city. I haven't been outside for two years and I'm seventeen years old! Xana has been trying to find us and while I'm glad we still have a home, there are other things that I miss. Snow, rain, thunder storms. I can't even touch rain anymore. It's depressing. I miss the outside world so much. My father and I are surprised that his company buildings are still powered. I won't be surprised if they get destroyed in the future. Xana will probably discover us in time. I'm glad we have a clear view of the factory and that none of the buildings that were destroyed, have blocked our view. My father is grateful that he decided to take a house with a view, around the same area Aunt Yumi used to live in when she was a kid. She was always closer to the factory, but further from Kadic Academy. It's the same house we've always lived in... and Xana hasn't realized we've been living right under his nose. I can't help but wonder why Xana hasn't found us? I mean in hindsight, we should be easy to find. Maybe he's busy causing destruction in other parts of the world? Maybe he's just toying with us? I don't know… but one day I have a feeling he will find us, and I have a feeling that is just going to be the most heartbreaking day of my life_ , I think. _Looking at my father, he types on the computer swiftly._

" _Xana's going to attack the factory!" My father exclaims, slamming his fist, frustrated with the AI. Looking at him, I widen my eyes._

" _But that means... no more connection to Lyoko! You won't be able to deactivate the towers remotely anymore!" I exclaim._

" _I know... losing the factory means total victory for Xana. Lila, I still need six more years to complete the time machine. I have all the main components. We also have enough provisions, and with the library in our house we can keep ourselves pre – occupied. I may even teach you Latin," My father says, and turns his chair towards me._

" _That would be nice… but then is this all we could do? I mean I get we can't go back into the city... not after Uncle Odd... well," Starting to sniffle, I hold back my tears. Getting out of his chair, he walks over to me then bends down. Taking my hands, he holds them._

" _I know... I miss him too. Look, Xana's done this before. It used to be easy having Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, and your mother go to Lyoko to help her deactivate Xana's towers, when we were kids. As you know, I've created a program that has allowed me to deactivate towers from here… but Xana started becoming more aggressive with his attacks. He usually activates two towers a day now. I've barely managed to keep him under control," he explains._

" _But, what about the resistance? Can't we find them and help fight Xana?" I ask._

" _No, we can't... I can never bring you to the resistance," My father answers. He lets go of my hands._

" _But why?" I ask, frowning. My father looks at me._

" _I promised the leader of the resistance ages ago I would never involve you in this war. After all a promise is a promise," he says._

" _A promise... is a promise," I nod, understanding him._

 **End of memory**

 **In Mrs. Hertz's class**

"Miss Smith, would you like to answer my question?" Mrs. Hertz asks me, and I wake up.

"I'm so sorry ma'am," I reply, sitting back up against my chair.

"I fell asleep."

"I can see that," Mrs. Hertz says and crosses her arms, disappointed. My classmates laugh, except for Ulrich, Odd, and Jeremy.

"Settle down! Lila, when you force two protons to clash with one another, what is that you achieve?" she asks me.

"Hmm... if these protons are of equal force, wouldn't they cancel each other out?" I ask. Mrs. Hertz nods.

"Yes, that's partially correct. If you had managed to stay awake and heard the full question, you would have the full answer. But nevertheless, well done Ms. Smith," Mrs. Hertz compliments.

My cell phone starts ringing, and one by one my classmate's cell phones starts ringing. Taking it out, I press the answer button and hold the phone close to my ears.

"Mom is that you?" I whisper… but I hear nothing but static.

 _I should probably refer Mary as "Mom" in public, otherwise, that would be suspicious. But if she's not answering… then what exactly is this? An attack maybe?_ I think. Looking at Odd and Ulrich they have also taken their cell phones out. Jeremy is the only person who hasn't taken his cell phone out. Herb might have a high IQ, but it surprises me that he's taken his cell phone out to talk during class. Nicholas is having the same problem too. Looking around the classroom, it appears everyone is having the same problems as the rest of us.

Odd, Ulrich, Jeremy, and I then look at one another. Mrs. Hertz taps her foot impatiently.

"Who's there? Is this some stupid prank?" Sissi asks.

"Sissi! As the principal's daughter you of all people should know the basic rules regarding cell phones in class!" Mrs. Hertz exclaims, walking up to her.

"No cell phones allowed during classes. They must be off before the beginning of class. Otherwise, they're subject to confiscation," Sissi recites.

"Exactly!" Mrs. Hertz exclaims and unfolds her hand to Sissi, expectantly.

"Aww…" we groan. Sissi places her phone in Mrs. Hertz's hand.

"Settle down! I want everyone's cell phones on my desk, the second class is over! You can leave them on my desk on the way out!" she exclaims.

 **Outside the classroom**

The bells ring, signaling class is over. We unhappily relinquish our cell phones and place them, one by one, on her desk. Mrs. Hertz told Jeremy he could keep his because he did not use the phone during class. We start walking out of Mrs. Hertz's classroom.

"This will make Xana happy for sure," Odd says.

Exiting the doorway, we look to see Yumi is already waiting for us. She pants heavily, trying to catch her breath.

 _She must have run here from her classroom to meet us… did she experience the same problem too?_ I think.

Catching her breath, she says:

"Something strange happened this morning. Everyone's cell phones started ringing, and then-"

Odd interrupts her.

"Your teacher took them away right? Ours too," he says.

"A bit of a coincidence don't you think. All of those calls at the exact same time, and no one answering on the other end? I need to inform Aelita," Jeremy says.

 _He thinks this is Xana's doing too. Good then if we're both assuming it's Xana, it most likely is him…_ I think.

"I'll go with you," I offer.

"Okay, sure," Jeremy says, and we start walking to his room.

 **In Jeremy's room**

I sit on Jeremy's bed, and Jeremy sits on his chair. He starts typing on his keyboard.

" _Connecting..."_ the computer says.

"Aelita are you there? Can you hear me?" he asks. Getting up from the bed, I walk to right side of his chair.

"I'm here with Lila."

" _Hi, you two,"_ Aelita greets, her window opening.

"Have you seen anything strange occurring on Lyoko?" Jeremy asks.

" _No, I haven't. Is there a reason to?"_ she replies.

"I'm not sure yet... I'll launch the scan to see if it finds anything," Jeremy says.

" _I'll take a quick look around Lyoko, to see if I can locate any of Xana's pulsations,"_ she says.

"Be safe Aelita," I say.

" _I will. See you later you two,"_ Aelita waves goodbye, and her window disappears. Jeremy starts running the scan. He is silent for a few moments.

 _He's so much like his future self. There would be days my father would act like I wasn't there. Those were the days I brushed up on my math skills to impress him, when he finally did decide to talk to me. I knew my father had a lot on his mind because of Xana… so he couldn't always make me his top priority. I knew how to take care of myself,_ I think.

"By the way, that was a good answer for Mrs. Hertz's question in class," he compliments as if he just remembered I existed.

"Thanks!" I exclaim happily.

 **In the cafeteria**

"What did you say? You want to do what now?" I ask Odd.

"You can't take the cell phones back, that's called stealing! Don't you know that?" Yumi asks. Jeremy makes no comment, he's sitting with his face buried in his laptop, still running the scan.

"Not really. They belong to us in the first place, so it's technically not stealing," Odd defends. He takes his crescent and dunks it into something sweet he got with it. He wipes his mouth with a napkin.

"It's not like we have much of a choice," Ulrich says. "We need to stay in communication, right?"

We look over at Mr. Delmas, Mrs. Hertz, and Jim who are just sitting down for their lunch. They're thanking some guy who I guess is the chef. I've never seen him before.

"We should go now," Odd says.

"Right," Ulrich nods.

We look back to Mr. Delmas, Mrs. Hertz, and Jim who continue to eat.

 _Those are the main people who would be keeping an eye out on the phones. If we're going to steal them, now would be the time. Still, it's a risky move,_ I think.

Turning back to give Odd and Ulrich, the go ahead, I see that they're already gone.

"Boys are idiots, aren't they?" I ask Yumi.

"Yup, they are," Yumi sighs.

 **In Jeremy's room**

After lunch, Jeremy, Yumi, and I decide to go back to his room and continue running the scan from there. Kiwi is in the room with us, resting on the bed.

We stare at Jeremy's computer screen, waiting for the scan to finish. I hear the door opening.

"Tada!" Odd exclaims. Kiwi growls as Odd drops the phones onto the bed. "It was easy, nothing to it." Kiwi smells Odd's phone and starts barking, as if he can detect there is something wrong with it.

"You better hope no one finds out about this," Yumi warns him.

"I'm _hoping_ that this has nothing to do with Xana," Odd says. Ulrich walks into the room and takes his phone from the bed. Jeremy pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose, fixing them.

"The scan is still running, and so far, it hasn't picked up any activated towers," Jeremy informs us, not even looking away from the screen.

" _There's been no signs here on Lyoko, either,"_ Aelita informs and her window pops up. " _It could have just been a false alarm.'_

"Hmm..." Jeremy trails off, looking down at his phone. Suddenly, he gasps, dropping his phone to his lap.

"It's Xana!" Grabbing the phone, he shows the phone with the eye of Xana on it. Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd check their phones. Going to Jeremy's bed, I grab my phone quickly and check it. We all show them to Jeremy and they're the same. They have the eye of Xana on them.

 _Even though this phone is my father's phone, it runs on the networks of this timeline... so it makes sense that it's affected. Thankfully, Mary is away today... otherwise should would be trapped in there. Or worse…_ I think.

 **Outside**

Walking in the courtyard, we start making our way to the campus buildings.

"How come Xana would take an interest in cell phones? It doesn't make sense," Ulrich says.

"No, it doesn't. That's why I'm going to go and look at the school's antenna, see if there's anything I can rustle up. You guys wanna come with?" Jeremy asks.

"There's a meeting I've got to go to. I made a promise to Sissi," Yumi says, and runs in the opposite direction.

 **School antenna building**

Reaching the rooftop of the building, we look to see Jim doing something to the antenna.

 _Why is he messing with the school's antenna?_ I think curiously.

"Why are you four up here? How did you get up here anyways?" Jim asks.

"Um..." I trail off. "You left the door unlocked." I lie.

"I did? Well that doesn't matter now I guess. Besides, there's no way all four of you are going to trick me into not disconnecting this antenna," he says.

 _Oh, that's what he's doing here. Maybe he caught on that the phones were stolen back, so he was making them unusable? Or maybe he was always going to do this. Either way, if he disconnects that antenna we're in big trouble!_ I think.

"See the thing is-" Ulrich starts, but he's cut off by the sound of Jim getting electrocuted. Jeremy outstretches his arms in a protective gesture. If we touch it, we get electrocuted too. All we can do is watch until the discharge seems to explode in Jim's face, knocking him off the roof.

Thinking fast, Ulrich runs to Jim and catches him by his feet. Jeremy, Odd, and I, following his lead, grab at Ulrich's waist and Jim's arms so they don't both go tumbling down. We thankfully manage to pull them back up. Ulrich and Odd support Jim by the shoulders.

"We're going to take him, to the infirmary," Ulrich says.

"Right, good luck," I say.

"We'll stay here to find out what's going on with the antenna," Jeremy says.

Ulrich and Odd soon leave. I help Jeremy connect his device to the antenna. We sit on the ledge and watch the device home in on the antenna's frequencies. It starts to tune into something, and he looks towards the city. I follow his line of vision and notice another antenna on a city building.

"What is that?" I ask.

"It's the antenna for the main television network," Jeremy answers. He seems lost in thought for a moment, then abruptly gets up. "Let's go," Jeremy says and takes the plug out of his device.

"Where to?" I ask.

"We're going to get Yumi," he answers.

 **Outside the auditorium**

Looking outside through a window, we manage to find Yumi. She is with Sissi inside the auditorium. They appear to be signing a petition in protest of the cell phones being confiscated. Mr. Delmas and Mrs. Hertz arrive on the scene. It doesn't look like they're happy.

I start waving to Yumi, from outside the window. Jeremy does this too, until she finally notices us. She slips from the protest and makes her way to us.

 **In Jeremy's room**

We're all standing behind Jeremy who is sitting on his chair and typing away at his keyboard. Bringing up a window on his monitor, it shows the antenna and something else.

 _Are those waves? I can't really decipher it…_ I think.

"These waves indicate that Xana is using the school's antenna to hack into the main television dish," Jeremy explains.

 _So… they are waves, that makes sense,_ I think.

"That's why all the phones rang simultaneously?" Yumi asks.

"Exactly. It was a test. If Xana gains control of the television's network dish, he can use it to gain access to the satellites that are currently in space and orbiting the earth," Jeremy replies.

"What happens then?" I ask.

"Then, he'll be able to use the satellites including a military satellite," Jeremy replies.

All of us continue looking at the computer.

"Why would Xana do this?" Yumi asks.

"I have no idea. Normally, the only thing these satellites are good for are spying. Should _Xana_ manage to gain access to one of these, who knows? He can reprogram them for anything," Jeremy says.

"Anything's possible, it sounds like. This is serious," Ulrich says.

"That's for sure Ulrich," Jeremy agrees, and he starts typing. The scanning on the program beeps, and locks onto a tower.

"The scan's located a tower," he says.

Aelita's window pops up, she looks concerned.

" _Jeremy! I found pulsations that lead to an activated tower in the polar region. Xana's launched an attack!"_

 _My father always told me how he and mom's timing on locating towers, were always spot on. He found that weird and I do too,_ I think.

"We'll be right there," Jeremy says.

" _Better make it fast,"_ Aelita tells us.

"We'll use the tunnel entrance near the school," Jeremy says and getting up from his chair, Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi start walking out of his room. Jeremy follows after them, and I walk out the door. Closing the door, we leave Kiwi in the room. He starts barking.

 **Under the arches**

Getting outside we see Sissi and her protest. More and more students have gathered. I can even see Tamiya and Milly, who are of course taking down notes, and recording it for the Kadic News.

"I'm going to stay here, just in case Xana attacks the school," Yumi decides.

"Yumi, are you joining us or what?" Sissi asks, finally noticing her. Yumi laughs nervously. Leaving her, we start running to the woods.

 **In the woods**

Making it to the woods, we soon reach the manhole entrance. Odd pulls the cover from the manhole. Ulrich and I go down first. Climbing down the ladder, Ulrich then lands on the ground. He moves to the side and I land. Looking up, Jeremy starts climbing down and Odd finally follows him down.

"Incredible, your dog is as stubborn as a mule," Jeremy says, making his way down.

"What do you mean?" I ask looking up.

"Kiwi followed Odd here," Jeremy replies. Reaching the ground, we land and look up to see Odd climbing down. Looking at Odd, Kiwi show's his face and I realize I must have forgotten to lock the door. Odd gets to the bottom of the ladder and hops down. Running to our riding equipment, we grab them.

 **Afterwards**

We make our way through the sewers, across the bridge, and to the lab.

 **Inside the lab**

Jeremy goes to his chair, and Odd releases Kiwi. Kiwi runs to Jeremy who then sits on his chair. Kiwi makes himself comfortable and lays down on the floor. Typing on his keyboard, the holomap opens and the monitor' screens light up.

"I'll prepare the transfer; get ready," Jeremy says.

"Right," I nod.

 **In the scanner room**

Reaching the scanner room, the three of us each take a scanner. I take the middle scanner, Odd takes the left scanner and Ulrich takes the right scanner.

" _Aelita's making her way to the polar region. You can meet her there,"_ Jeremy informs. _"Are you three ready? I'm starting the procedure now."_

"Yes, go ahead," I say.

We step inside the scanners.

" _Transfer: Ulrich, Transfer: Odd, Transfer: Lila."_ The scanners close. Closing my eyes, the scanner starts to spin. It then starts to hum.

" _Scanner: Odd, Scanner: Ulrich, Scanner: Lila,"_

The scanner continues spinning, and I wait for the gush of wind and bright light.

" _Virtualization!"_

The gush of wind and bright light engulfs me. I'm virtualized to Lyoko.

 **Lyoko's Ice Sector**

My vision returns, and we land safely in the ice sector. Searching for Aelita, we spot her. She waves her hand.

"Ulrich, Odd, Lila!" Aelita calls out.

"There she is!" Ulrich exclaims. We start running over to her. She meets us half-way and together we start running in the direction of the pulsations.

" _I've got some good news. Xana, hasn't taken control of the TV dish yet. We've still got some time. I'm going to try to find out which dish Xana is trying to take control of. It won't be easy, that's for sure,"_ he says.

Feeling the vibrations beneath my feet, I can feel them getting heavier and heavier.

 _If I'm right I think we're getting closer to the tower…_ I think.

Turning into a path, we start running on it.

"Where is that tower?" Odd asks.

" _First thing's first Odd. I found out what Xana is going to do. His plan is to gain access to a satellite with a highly accurate and very powerful laser. When he does, he can use it to_ destroy _anything that he wants,"_ Jeremy explains.

"The factory should be safe. It doesn't make sense for Xana to attack himself," Odd surmises.

" _That's right. This gives us time to deal with things on Lyoko."_

"Sound good! But if Xana decides to target the school…" Ulrich trails off.

"Remember, _Yumi's there. He'll definitely target the school. We need to warn her somehow. Without our cell phones-"_ Jeremy stops mid-sentence. " _I think I have an idea. Odd I'm going to borrow Kiwi. He'll be our messenger."_

"Sounds good Einstein! Make sure my little diggity dog gets a treat afterwards!" Odd exclaims.

Continuing to run along the path, I slip deep into thought.

 _I think… I've experienced this before… somewhere… could it have been from what I'm starting to remember?_ I think.

 **In Lila's memory**

" _A promise is a promise..." I trail off._

 _My father's computer alerts him and he rushes to sit down in his chair. Running to him, I go over to his side and look at the screens. They're blaring, and he starts typing frantically._

" _I count... one tower activated in the mountain sector. No wait, there's another one in the desert. Okay, I can deal with two – oh god. A third one in the ice sector! No four! The new forest sector I created has an activated tower?!" My father exclaims, he then gasps._

" _Impossible... now there's six towers activated! One in sector five, and one in cortex!" He stops typing for a second, as a realization washes over him._

" _He's really going to destroy the factory."_

 _The alarms on my father's computer continue to blare. He gets out of the chair and grabs my hand. He and I run up the stairs. We run to our balcony and fling the door open just in time to see a red laser firing right at the factory._

" _No!" he exclaims, but he's too late. The factory falls with a deafening crash. A few moments later, we feel start to feel the ground shaking beneath us._

 _It's an earthquake! I think._

" _Get inside!" My father exclaims. Taking my hand, we run inside and crawl under a large round table. My father holds me close to him, as debris starts falling onto the table._

 _I finally got to be outside after two years… only to see more destruction…_ _I think._

 **End of Lila's memory**

I snap back into reality, wanting to groan and restrain myself. The path we had taken, leads to the top of an ice pillar.

"According to the holomap, _the tower should be across the bridge. But be careful. They're probably guarded by the –"_ Jeremy starts explaining. Looking to bridge across from here, we see four hornets hovering above the ice.

"The waspters. Thanks, we see them," Ulrich says.

Making our way to the bridge, we reach the front of it where the Hornets are.

Ulrich readies his katana and unsheathes it. Odd cocks his paw, reading his laser arrows, and I take my staff out.

" _Don't forget, the wasp's poison will drain your life points drastically. Be careful,"_ Jeremy reminds us.

The Hornets continue hovering above the ice.

 _This is…strange,_ I think curiously.

"They're not attacking, how come?" Odd asks.

" _They're most likely stalling for time. If they stall long enough, it'll give Xana the chance to gain control of the Satellite. Try to get past them,"_ Jeremy answers.

"Laser Arrow!" Odd exclaims and fires off a laser arrow, breaking the awkward standoff.

"Exardesco! Exardesco!" I exclaim. My amulet starts glowing and then stops. Swinging the staff, I launch two fire bolts at the Hornets. The Fire bolts miss. Odd's laser arrow misses his hornet.

Looking to our right, Ulrich and I look at Aelita who is trying to sneak to the front of the bridge. The Hornets spot her.

"Aelita don't!" I exclaim.

"It's not safe!" Ulrich exclaims.

The Hornet fires its acid. The putrid bubbles pop from it, and Aelita is forced to get up from the ground. She starts running back to us.

" _Aelita, you can't take any risks with these wasps. Odd, Ulrich, and Lila will handle them."_

Reaching us she pants heavily.

"I'm sorry – I thought I could try and get through while they were distracted," she explains.

I look at her.

"Don't worry us like that. We'll take care of them, like Jeremy said," I say.

"Right," Aelita nods.

" _It looks like there's not much of a choice. One of you are going to have to make a sacrifice."_

I start to pull my sword out and Odd puts his hand in front of me, stopping me.

"I'll take care of it. Lila, I know you have that fire wave spell of yours and can take care of all of them in one fell swoop. You should use it for emergencies only," Odd says.

"Are you sure Odd?" I ask.

"I'm sure. And... now!" Odd exclaims and he starts running at the Hornets. Cocking one of his paws, he starts firing his laser arrows.

"Odd!" Ulrich exclaims.

"Come on, we have to go now!" I exclaim. Looking back at Odd, who is dodging the acid, Ulrich nods. We start running along the bridge.

" _Uh guys bad news. Xana's just gained control of the satellite!"_ Jeremy exclaims.

 _No way..._ I think and continue running. I frown _._

 _I can't help but wonder why Xana is going to use the satellite. Is he really going to use it to destroy the school? Or use it for something else?_ I think, concerned.

"Lila are you okay?" Ulrich asks, noticing the look on my face.

"Yeah... just a bit worried," I reply, faking a smile.

" _It looks like our assumption was right,"_ Jeremy says, " _The school is going to be targeted by the satellite."_

Reaching the end of the bridge, it leads us to the top of an ice glacier.

 _The tower should be here… but it's not? Could Jeremy have gotten it wrong?_ I think.

"Shouldn't the tower be here? This doesn't make sense," Ulrich says, confused. Looking back at the beginning of the bridge, we can see Odd is still being chased by hornets. The Hornets fire off regular red lasers, the lasers hit him, and he tumbles forward on the ice. His body sparks. Watching him, he cocks his paw.

" _Odd, you're down to just ten life points."_

Odd fires off two laser arrows. He misses all three. Odd bows his head in defeat. The Hornets seem to suddenly lose interest in him and then turn their attention to us.

" _The tower is nearby, it has to be. The holomap is never wrong. The tower must be there." Jeremy_ mumbles, frustrated.

Ulrich takes out his katana, and I take my staff out. The Hornets begin firing at us and Ulrich blocks Aelita with his katana blade. I use the sword-like end of my staff to block the lasers with Ulrich. He blocks another laser. Aelita starts running, to find the tower that is supposed to be here.

"Triplicate!" Ulrich exclaims and makes two copies of himself. Using their super sprint, they run around the hornets forming a triangle. One of the Hornets goes off to search for Aelita.

"No, you don't!" I exclaim. "Exardesco!"

My amulet starts glowing and swinging my staff, I launch my Fire Bolt at the hornet. The Fire Bolt makes an impact, destroying the hornet.

"Go and find Aelita. Make sure she's safe!" Ulrich exclaims. "I'll handle them!"

"Right!" I exclaim. Running in the direction Aelita had ran, I look down and spot her pacing around. She looks confused. I jump down from the ice glacier and land safely.

"Lila this is crazy, but the pulsations lead here. I still can't find the tower and Odd was just devirtualized! We're running out of time!" Aelita exclaims.

"I know we are but think: the tower is definitely here. If we remain calm we should be able to find it and –" I start to explain, but then we see one of Ulrich's clones from the top of the glacier being wiped out. The three remaining hornets fire their regular lasers at Ulrich, who is unable to block all three of them at once. He yelps and falls down, hitting the ice hard and blacking out.

"Ulrich! Aelita, I'll take care of them! The tower is here somewhere, you'll find it. I'm sure," I say. Aelita nods and goes off to start searching for the tower again.

I start running over to Ulrich's unconscious body. Reaching him, I then take my saber out. The Hornets start charging their lasers at me.

"Ignesco!" I exclaim. My sword slowly ignites with flames, it then fully engulfs it. Swinging my sword, I unleash my fire wave at Hornetsnets. The Hornets fire off their lasers, the wave manages to evaporate two of the lasers. The third hornet had shot a type of laser that somehow can withstand the heat of my flames. The flames make an impact with all three hornets, but I'm hit from the laser that passed through. It knocks me out.

 **In Lila's memory**

 _Our home stops shaking. My father and I crawl out from under of the table. Running down the stairs, we run down to check on the lab._

 _..._

 _Reaching the lab, he looks at the damage that was done. Going to his computer, he checks the monitor. I walk over to him and looking at it, there's nothing there but white static._

 _Turning to my father, he then clenches his hand in defeat._

" _I can't believe Xana really did it..." he trails off. Holding his hand, he starts crying._

" _Now – now there's nothing I can do to stop the destruction that's coming! Things are going to get worse for the rest of humanity." Looking at him, he takes his glasses off. Drying his eyes with his arm, he then takes his glasses and puts them back on. He pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose, fixing them._

" _Things... things can get worse?" I ask._

 _He nods._

 **End of memory**

Waking up, my vision is returning slightly, and I can barely see that Aelita is trying to shake me awake. Grunting, I let her know that I'm awake and she stops shaking. My vision returns and I tell her:

"I took out those hornets… but one of their lasers got through to my attack somehow. It knocked me out."

"That's strange, it must have slipped through. I have some good news. I think – I think I found the tower!" Aelita exclaims happily.

"Go on then, we'll be okay," Ulrich says. Looking at him, I can tell that the fall he had from earlier took a lot out of him. He probably just woke up a few seconds before me.

Aelita starts running along a small path and passes through a waterfall. Looking at the waterfall, I can see a faint red light coming from.

"Oh of course! Nice job Aelita, now I get it," I smile.

"What?" Ulrich asks and then looks at where I'm looking. He smiles too.

"Makes sense now," he says.

Hearing Jeremy's voice, he says:

" _Return to the past now!"_

A big white bubble engulfs us and sends us back in time to the beginning of the day.

 **Earlier the same morning**

 **POV Lila's**

Waking up in my room, I look over to see Mary typing on the laptop again. She stops and makes the realization that we've used the return to the past program. She turns to me and smiles.

"How did things go while I was away?" Mary asks.

"Not so good... Xana attacked us with a Satellite," I reply.

"That's what that shaking was then. And the laser I saw hitting the grounds of your school. I was concerned... I'm just glad you're all okay..." Mary trails off. I look at her.

"Mary - do - do you recall when the factory was destroyed in the future?"

"Yes. I remember it from what your father told me."

"I remembered it myself... and I was seventeen at the time. These recent Xana attacks, the satellite and the ones with the creature Finson created, they've triggered some major memories."

"I'm sorry you've had to deal with this. Did you remember anything specific?"

"Well..." I put my finger up. "A lot honestly. The factory being destroyed like I mentioned, my father wanting to teach me Latin. Mourning future Odd. And my father made some strange promise to the leader of the resistance: to not keep me involved in the war."

Mary looks at me, "That's peculiar. Why would he do that? I've gone through my data banks before, and do not recall that conversation."

"How strange… and how was travelling?" I ask.

"Good, I gathered a lot of intel about the current state of the world. Something I wanted to experience myself."

"Good, I'm glad," I smile.

"When Xana attacks again, I hope you don't experience more memories. Reawakening forgotten memories through trauma is not healthy. Lila, I'm concerned," Mary says, frowning.

"I'm sure I'll be fine Mary. To be honest, they kind of concern me too," I say.

"We can only hope for the best then," Mary nods.

"Yeah," I nod.

 **Later**

 **Outside the cafeteria**

I meet up with the others. Odd, places a poster he made on the cafeteria's window. Looking at the poster, it shows an x over a cell phone. Next to the cell phone is a note, I smile at the handy work.

Sissi opens the door. Walking down the steps, she looks at the poster on the window.

"What's that? An invitation to a party?" she asks hopefully.

"Not exactly..." Odd trails off.

"Then what is it?" Sissi asks, she starts to read it. "All students, this is an official school policy reminder. All cell phones, and other electronic devices must be off before entering a classroom. Under penalty, of having them confiscated." She look at us, and we smile.

"Amazing! All of you are teacher's pets, humph!" she exclaims. "I'd like to see a teacher take my cell phone away, my father wouldn't let that happen!"

"She's hopeless," Ulrich says, and we start laughing.

 _I just hope the memories I experience won't bother me in the future. And I still can't believe that hornet's laser got through to my fire wave somehow. I'm sure it was just dumb luck,_ I think.

 **And done! Don't forget to review!**

 **P.S. I wanted for this to be a surprise but... we are just TWO chapters away from Code: Earth. Yes that's right, we have two MAJOR time skips happening. The first takes place after my version of "The girl of his dreams." I will skip to the episode: "The trap." The missing episodes in between the girl of his dreams and "The Trap," will be referenced by Lila in "The Trap,". After "The Trap," I will then be skipping ahead to Code: Earth because AeroJester203 and I have a lot plans for this story that needs to happen soon. If I wrote all of season 1 it would take forever. The missing chapters after "The Trap," will of course be referenced by Lila in Code: Earth. Big thanks again to AwesomeFanFictionAuthor who edited this chapter. Check out the stories on Awesome's profile, I highly recommend Code: Revenge. It's great! Until the next chapter, stay tuned!**

 **LyokoWarrior1994**


	13. The girl of his dreams

**This chapter was written by me and edited by Undeadmonkey8.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko. All copy righting goes to Moonscoop.**

 **I only own my OCs. Mary is owned by AeroJester203.**

 _The girl of his dreams_

 **In Lila's room**

 **POV Lila's**

Waking up to the sound of typing on the keyboard, opening my eyes I see Mary slamming her first on my copy of my father's laptop.

"Mary!" I exclaim, "Calm down!"

"This laptop is malfunctioning. The super scan re-calibrated itself, and it no longer has a connection to the supercomputer," she explains.

I get up from bed and stretch, walking over to Mary's side. Looking at the computer with her, I ask:

"What do you mean?"

"Usually, the super scan must be connected to Lyoko to pick up towers on Lyoko. If there's no connection..." Mary trails off.

"What are you trying to say?" I ask.

"I think something's wrong with Lyoko."

"Can you investigate quietly?" I ask.

"Yes, I'll investigate the matter on Lyoko myself. I'll do it quietly, and Xana will not detect me."

"Okay, please inform me once you've found something out," I nod.

"Right, I will," Mary says and transforms her smoke form. She wisps away into the electrical outlet.

 **In Mrs. Hertz's class**

In class, Ulrich and I are sitting next to Jeremy. Odd is ahead of us, and Jeremy is yawning.

"Jeremy the rest of us use the night hours to sleep, not work," Ulrich whispers.

"I wanted to try something new with the materialization program for Aelita. This last one I tried, I almost succeeded. I was so close," Jeremy explains.

"What will happen when the time comes, and you actually do succeed with the materialization program? I mean, it's not like you know how to talk with a girl," Odd chastises.

"It's different with Aelita," Jeremy says.

"Yeah, you're right it is different," Odd smiles.

"Odd… Jeremy talks to me a lot just fine. Don't forget I'm a girl too. So, shut up okay?" I ask, then glare at him. He chuckles nervously.

Mr. Delmas walks into the room, nodding to Mrs. Hertz before he turns to us,

"Hello everyone, and good morning. I have an announcement to make before beginning today's class. You have a new student to welcome. Please, you can come in," Mr. Delmas gestures to the new student who is waiting outside. The student walks in and my eyes widen.

She has dark pink hair, wears a purple and light pink sweater, the top left of the sweater's collar is undone. She wears a dark purple skirt, short low white socks, and flat brown shoes. She has brown eyes.

 _Is... is that Aelita?!_ I think.

"What would say to her right now, if she were here I mean?" Odd asks Jeremy, still facing the back of the class.

"Her name is Taelia. I hope you all give her a warm welcome," Mr. Delmas says.

"Um..." Jeremy trails off.

"You lose! You really could use some tips Jeremy," Odd laughs a little and he turns his attention forward, finally noticing Taelia. He looks shocked, and gives a little gasp,

"Um..."

 _I've never seen a picture of my mom from when she was younger... Can this really be you Aelita?_ I think.

"What – what is going on?" Ulrich asks.

 **In the courtyard**

 **After class**

Staring at Taelia, Jeremy and I can't help but notice the resemblance between her and Aelita.

"What do you think Yumi?" I ask, turning to her.

"There's a resemblance," Yumi replies, nodding. "Shouldn't she recognize us?" she then asks.

"There's a chance she could have some memory loss," Jeremy answers.

"You should go and talk to her. It's the only way of knowing the truth," Odd suggests.

"What if it's not Aelita?" Jeremy asks.

Ulrich looks at Odd who sighs, and he gets up from the bench. Grabbing Jeremy by his arms, they force him to start walking to her.

"Wa-it a minute-" Jeremy stammers, and I run up with them.

"Let the expert do his job. You'll learn a thing or two," Odd says, referring to himself. Reaching Taelia who is sitting quietly and reading a book on a different bench, I look at her.

 _I really hope this doesn't end badly…_ I think.

"Hello there," Odd greets. Closing her book, she looks up at Odd and us.

Odd continues,

"Taelia, my friends and I thought we've might have seen you before?"

"Are you trying to hit on me or something? If so, that's a really old pick up line and I'm not interested," Taelia replies and opens her book. She goes back to reading her book.

"I wasn't trying to ask you out or anything. I was just trying to talk to you," Odd says. Looking at us, she turns her attention to Odd.

"Any chance that the virtual world, Krabs, or Buzzing monsters mean anything to you?" He asks.

"It means I have to go," Taelia replies, getting up to leave. She grabs her bag and opens it, to put her book in it. She then closes it and shoulders the bag onto her back.

"Wait, please. Can you tell a little more about yourself? Do you have any family?" Jeremy asks.

"I don't feel like talking, sorry," Taelia replies. Walking away, Ulrich sits on the bench. Yumi walks up to us.

"So, what happened?" Yumi asks.

"It isn't her," Odd replies.

"He's only saying that because she rejected him. "Learn a thing or two from the expert." Isn't that what you said Odd?" Ulrich asks. "If it's Aelita, she has one serious case of amnesia."

"Wait... what if this really is Aelita? If it is then that means she's not on Lyoko anymore, " Jeremy surmises.

"If that's the case, you go and check it out later. But right now we need to go to Mrs. Meyer's class," Ulrich says. The bells ring signaling class is about to start again.

"Right," I nod. Ulrich, Odd, and Jeremy start walking away.

"I have a big report today, wish me luck," Yumi mentions. Ulrich, Odd, and Jeremy ignore her.

"Good luck Yumi. I better get going," I say.

"Thanks, Lila," Yumi smiles. Running up to the guys, we start walking to the classroom.

 _This girl Taelia, doesn't feel like Aelita. She's too... distant,_ I think.

 **Mrs. Meyer's classroom**

Mrs. Meyer is talking and writing down an equation on the blackboard.

"I really need to check on Lyoko, I need to know if Taelia is really Aelita," Jeremy says.

"I can go with you," Odd offers.

"And I need to go back to my room for something. I'll meet you and Odd after that," I add.

"I'll stay here so that we don't cause anymore disruptions," Ulrich says.

"Right," I nod.

Jeremy raises his hand.

"Excuse me, Mrs. Meyer?" he asks.

"Yes, Jeremy?" Mrs. Meyer asks, turning around to face Jeremy.

"I'm not feeling very well, can I go to the infirmary? I'm- I'm just feeling really sick for some reason," Jeremy lies.

"I'll take him!" Odd and I say in unison, raising our hands.

Mrs. Meyer looks at us suspiciously,

"What for?"

"Just in case, you never know," Odd replies.

"And, I'll be there to make sure they get to the infirmary," I add, shooting a pointed look at Odd.

"Alright... you can go," Mrs. Meyer agrees.

 **In Lila's room**

I run to my room, throwing the door open and slamming it shut before I look to see Mary, who has clearly been waiting for me.

"Thank goodness you're here! When I integrated myself into the supercomputer, I searched Lyoko. Aelita doesn't seem to be anywhere," Mary informs me.

"Are you sure?" I ask.

"Yes, why?"

"There's a girl here on earth who looks exactly like Aelita. Her name is Taelia!"

Mary's eyes widen,

"How is that possible?" she asks.

"Do you think we could have changed the timeline?" I ask.

"No, we couldn't have! We haven't created a paradox yet large enough to-" Mary starts to explain, but I interrupt her.

"You said a while back there's a possibility, our time traveling and inserting myself into my father's life could have already altered events, right?"

"Yes but-"

"Assuming that's the case, we're already living in a new timeline, right?"

"Right but-" Mary continues to try and speak, but I interrupt her.

"Then that draws one conclusion: When my father inserted me into the timeline, it changed things so dramatically, that he materialized Aelita, sooner rather than later!" I exclaim happily.

Sighing, Mary puts her hand on her head in annoyance.

"What? That's not the case?" I ask.

"You're missing the big picture, Lila. I explored Lyoko and yet we have we have no access to it here. What if Aelita is trapped there and that's the reason there's no connection?"

"I hope that isn't the case... because if it is, then there's trouble. Real trouble," I reply.

 **After class**

 **In the cafeteria**

"When I opened it… the samurai suit was gone you guys!" Yumi exclaims, frustrated with her failed presentation.

"Any chance one of the younger kids took the samurai outfit?" Ulrich asks.

"I thought so at first. But remember, I also saw there were those electrical plugs by the wall. They looked burnt out," Yumi explains. Playing with his food, Odd looks up at her.

"Well, if this is Xana's doing then we can't get Aelita to help. After all, we still don't have contact with her on Lyoko," Odd says.

"Don't you get it Odd?!" Jeremy exclaims and gets up from the chair.

"There's no contact from Aelita because she's not on Lyoko anymore!" he sits back down.

Odd, Yumi, and I look at Taelia who is sitting by herself. She looks up from her book, glancing at us suspiciously.

"Sorry, but I refuse to believe that girl is Aelita," Yumi says.

"She's right. She doesn't have that warmth Aelita has," I add.

"Well, someone here-" Ulrich starts and points to Jeremy,

"Is dying to find out."

"Children, may have your attention please? There's been an incident with a number of students, and our fellow gym teacher Jim. Who, I'm sure you all respect and-" Mr. Delmas starts to explain,

"Exaggerating a bit?" Odd mutters under his breath and Mr. Delmas continues to speak.

"Shush!" I exclaim at him. Looking at Mr. Delmas, I look at the man next to him who just walked into the cafeteria.

"And care for. Their assailant was concealed in some sort of, well-made armor. Armor of a samurai to be precise. And this assailant is still at large," Mr. Delmas informs.

Looking at the man next to him, I notice that he has black hair, brown eyes, and a black mustache. He appears to be wearing some sort of police uniform.

 _Is he a detective?_ I think. Two more men enter the cafeteria, they are wearing police uniforms.

"If anyone has any information that they would like to forward to the police, it will help the investigation. You're more than welcome to." Mr. Delmas finishes his announcement.

"We shouldn't wait any longer," Yumi says.

"We need to go to Lyoko. We can find Aelita, and with her help deactivate the tower," Ulrich says.

Jeremy takes his plate and gets up,

"Don't you guys understand? Are you thick headed? If Xana is controlling the samurai, then that means he'll go after Taelia," Jeremy reasons and starts to pace around with his tray.

"It's reasonable logic, for one simple reason: Taelia is really Aelita! Ugh!" he settles his tray in the dish area and walks away from us.

 _Jeremy… what are you going to do when you find out that Taelia isn't Aelita? I thought the same too but since Mary couldn't find Aelita on Lyoko… I'm starting to worry,_ I think.

Odd leans to Yumi,

"He's really lost it, hasn't he?"

"Miss, may I interrupt?" a voice asks. Odd stops talking, and all of us look up at the detective.

"The samurai originally belonged to you, correct?" he asks.

"Well..." Yumi trails off.

"Miss, can you come with us to Principal Delmas's office? We have a few questions we'd like to ask you," The detective requests.

 **Inside the secretary's office**

Sitting down on the couch, we wait in Mr. Delmas's secretary's office.

Ulrich has his head down, worrying about Yumi's ongoing interrogation.

"There's not much we can do here, for Yumi. Let's just go to the factory, and have Jeremy meet up with us there," Odd reasons. Ulrich gets up and takes his phone out then dials a number. Putting his phone to his ear, he lets the phone ring.

"He's not picking up..." Ulrich trails off.

"Let's go to the factory," I decide.

 **Inside the freight elevator**

The freight elevator continues to descend, and it finally reaches the lab level. The doors of the freight elevator opening, we see Taelia is next to the holosphere. She has her arms crossed and looking over to Jeremy his hand is on the keyboard. He's hesitant and looks nervous.

Eyes widening, I look at him surprised

 _What does he plan on doing? Is he going to shut down the supercomputer? No, he can't! He'll kill Aelita! I think Mary is right, I truly believe she is on Lyoko somewhere!_ I think.

"Jeremy don't you dare!" I exclaim at him.

Jeremy flinches, and we walk up to him. Passing Taelia, we go to Jeremy's side.

"What's going on with you?" Ulrich asks.

"Yeah, are you going crazy on us Einstein? What happens if you shut the supercomputer down, and Aelita is really on Lyoko?" Odd asks.

"She's not on Lyoko! She's right there, in flesh and blood!" Jeremy exclaims.

"Jeremy, we know you've dreamt of seeing Aelita for so long now. There's no way of knowing for sure. Let's say you're wrong," Ulrich says.

Odd walks to Jeremy on his right side.

"Are you willing to make the greatest mistake ever? If you kill Xana, you'll end up destroying Aelita with him," Odd tries to reason.

"Please! Listen to what, they're saying! You can't do this, not without us going to Lyoko first!" I exclaim.

"What happens if Aelita isn't on Lyoko? How will the tower be deactivated then?" Jeremy asks.

"We'll just have to take that risk," Ulrich answers.

"Huh?" Taelia asks in confusion.

 **Inside the freight elevator**

The freight elevator descends to the scanner room, and the three of us are silent.

Reaching the scanner room, the doors open and we run inside.

I take the middle scanner, Odd takes the right scanner and Ulrich takes the left scanner.

 _"The last time I heard from Aelita, it was in the mountain area,"_ Jeremy informs.

Ulrich, Odd, and I step into the scanners.

 _"Transfer: Ulrich, Transfer: Odd, Transfer: Lila."_

The scanners doors close

Closing my eyes, the scanner starts spinning.

 _"Scanner: Ulrich, Scanner: Odd, Scanner: Lila."_

It continues to spin and starts making a humming sound.

 _"Virtualization!"_

A bright light and gush of wind engulfs me. I'm virtualized to Lyoko.

 **Lyoko's mountain sector**

Opening my eyes, I see Ulrich, Odd, and I'm falling. We land perfectly on the mountain plateau.

Looking around the mountain sector, I notice the thick fog clouding our vision.

 _This is my first time in the mountain sector! It's much different and foggier than the other regions! Maybe, Mary had difficulty finding Aelita because of the fog?_ I think.

 _"What do you guys see?"_

"Nothing but mountains and mountains..." Ulrich trails off.

We start running on the narrow pathways. Ulrich separates from us and jumps onto the higher level narrow pathway. We continue running, as Odd and I reach a moving mountain. Jumping onto the moving mountain, we then than jump onto a higher narrow pathway.

"This is impossible... Finding someone here in this place will be just as impossible as finding an idea in Jim's head," Odd jokes. Walking to the edge of the mountain, Odd's eyes widen, and he shakes his head. Ulrich finally reaches us, and we walk up to Odd.

"You guys, I - I think I know where Aelita is," Odd says.

"Huh?" I ask.

"But how, where?" Ulrich asks.

"It was some sort of... flash like vision. Close to a premonition," Odd explains.

"You mean the same one you had when you predicted I would fall into the chasm of the forest's digital void?" I ask.

"Yeah, just like that one," Odd answers.

 _"It's got to be a sign that means, Aelita is there!"_ Jeremy exclaims.

Rolling my eyes at that comment, I sigh internally.

 _Jeremy… I still can't believe you nearly killed Aelita. I understand it was a stupid and selfish near life-ending mistake. I'm just glad we decided to go to Lyoko,_ I think.

 _"Odd, Ulrich, Lila. The scan has finally picked up the tower. It's located in the forest region. Thirty degrees north."_

"We need Aelita to help us deactivate the tower and without her, that info isn't really good right now," Ulrich says.

Looking ahead of the narrow pathway, we see the windy pathway leading to what looks like a guardian.

"That's a guardian isn't?" Odd asks. "That's where Aelita is, I'm sure of it!" he exclaims.

He jumps off the edge and looking down, he lands safely. Ulrich and I jump next and land safely.

Running on the pathway, the three of us eventually reach the guardian. Looking inside the guardian, we can clearly see Aelita unconscious and floating in it.

"We've found her, she's here Jeremy!" Ulrich exclaims.

"That ball must have been blocking all communications with Aelita and Lyoko. That's why Jeremy had trouble connecting to her, and Lyoko," Odd explains.

"That's the same monster that trapped Yumi a while back," Ulrich recalls.

"Yes, it is," I nod.

"Aelita, tricked the monster into thinking it had taken the wrong prisoner. She created a false image of Yumi, which freed her," Odd says.

"Except now Aelita is the prisoner. Which means... we need to free her by force!" Ulrich exclaims and takes out his katana.

He starts attacking it, and unsheathing my sword, I attack the guardian. Slashing the guardian, Ulrich and I try to do this for a few seconds. We notice our attacks, aren't phasing through the guardian. Backing off, we sheathe our swords and Odd cocks his paw.

Odd fires off his laser arrows. The laser arrows bounce off the guardian.

"Our attacks aren't working,' Odd informs.

"I know this thing is indestructible, but everything has a weakness!" Ulrich says.

 _"Xana must have created a program, and with that program he-"_ Jeremy starts explaining, he then begins to ramble on about something.

 _"Exactly, it's a program which means I can!"_

"Jeremy, what exactly are you rambling about?" I ask.

"Hopefully an idea to free Aelita," Ulrich surmises.

" _I might actually. But, it might take a couple of minutes."_

"Sure, we've got all the time in the world," Odd says sarcastically.

"Jeremy, how's it coming with that idea?" Ulrich asks.

 _"It's ready now!"_

Appearing next to the guardian, a false image of Aelita forms.

"An Aelita clone? You think that'll really work?" Odd asks skeptically.

 _"Just give it a chance Odd,"_ Jeremy replies.

The Guardian starts to expand, engulfing Aelita's clone. After a moment, it begins convulsing, then explodes, releasing a shock wave, and the real Aelita.

"Nice work, using a decoy to trick the guardian," Ulrich compliments and we walk to Aelita.

 _"Bring Aelita to a tower, so that her life points can regenerate."_

 **Inside the tower**

Aelita is resting on the lite platform, and we wait for her to wake up. She soon starts waking up.

 _"Looks like everything is going to be okay. Her life points have regenerated back to 100."_

Aelita grabs her head in pain and groans.

"You've finally found me. What did you do about the guardian?" she asks, looking at us.

"It's taken care of. Shouldn't bother you again," Odd answers.

Helping Aelita up, I help her walk to the edge of the platform. She smiles and nods. Letting go of her, the four of us prepare to jump.

"Jeremy, we're leaving now. Destination: Forest region," Odd says.

Extending our arms, we jump down and let the stream of data guide us. Our position transitioning, the data guides us upward and we land on a new platform. The platform lights up. Running to the "doorway," we exit the tower.

 **Forest sector**

"We've arrived," Ulrich informs.

 _"Guys please hurry. I haven't heard from Yumi in a while, and something tells me she's dealing with the samurai."_

"There's no time to lose! Let's go!" Ulrich exclaims.

We start running along a pathway, which leads to a bridge.

"While you're at it, do you have any other good news for us?" Odd asks.

 _"Oh yeah, plenty! Taelia saw me punch in the access code to the lab. The principal and the police are here. And Xana's monsters are around. Three Bloks. Remember, don't let their laser guns hit you, otherwise, you'll be back here with me to greet our friendly men in blue."_

Crossing the bridge, Odd and I listen carefully for the Bloks. Taking Aelita to a tree for cover, Ulrich goes with her and they hide.

"I always liked the Bloks. They're my favorite monsters," Odd says.

"Really? I thought it was the roaches," I say and take out my staff.

"Exardesco, Exardesco," I chant. Cocking his paw, Odd readies his laser arrows.

"Laser Arrow!" Odd exclaims, firing off a laser arrow to the ground, giving them a warning shot. The three Bloks start moving towards us, ignoring the warning shot and charging their lasers, one of them appears be charging its ice laser. Swinging my staff, I fire two Fire Bolts off into the air and they fly at the Bloks. Two of the Bloks release their ice lasers, and my flames are enveloped in ice. My eyes widen, and the third Blok fires it's ice laser at me. Not reacting quick enough, it strikes me.

"Lila!" Odd exclaims in shock. The ice then devirtualizes me.

 **Back in the scanner**

Opening my eyes, I'm back in the scanner and the scanner opens. Kneeling down to the floor, I punch my hand on the floor of the scanner, frustrated.

 _I should have reacted quicker! Such a rookie mistake!_ I think.

 _"_ What's going on in here?" I hear Mr. Delmas asking. I quickly head over to the ladder shoot and go up the ladder shoot just as quickly.

I soon arrive from the hatch leading to the scanner room below. I see Mr. Delmas along with the detective from earlier and two of his policemen.

"I'm sorry, Jeremy… the Bloks got me," I explain. "And Taelia…" I sound like I have a venomous tone, Jeremy glances over his shoulder to see me glaring at her as if offended by Taelia's very presence. Which at this point I honestly am.

Taelia flinches, and Jeremy seems to make a realization. He seems guilty.

"It was a mistake telling her," I say.

Taelia scoffs, as if knowing we can't do anything with the police there,

"Whatever."

"From our understanding, you kids decided to unleash some sort of evil into the world," the detective states. "We're ordering you to shut the computer down."

Jeremy is about to start protesting, but Taelia cuts him off, "It's just a computer! Big deal, some girl who looks like me is inside of it! She's fake; she's not even real!"

"She's – she's not even real?" I repeat in a low tone, obviously angry.

I close the distance between us in a few quick steps and rear back my fist before slugging Taelia across the face, knocking her back a few steps before she stumbles and manages to catch herself before falling.

One of the policemen grabs hold of me before I can do anything more, but I still glare at the redhead. Rubbing her hand against her face, Taelia wipes away a bit of blood from her lip.

"See, Mr. Delmas?" she exclaims. "They're dangerous! She just hit me for no reason!"

I growl and struggle to free myself from the officer's hold to attack her again. Jeremy is completely stunned by all of this… he's never seen me this enraged before. I never knew I could be this enraged.

"Belpois, kill this thing," Mr. Delmas orders. "You'll have to answer some of our questions at the police station."

"I can't, sir. My friends are still in danger," Jeremy says. "And Lila… I'm sorry. You were right; I shouldn't have told Taelia."

"It's okay, Jeremy, I get it," I say, after calming a bit. "You wanted to see Aelita so badly. After all, she's the girl of your dreams, isn't she?"

Jeremy blushes a bit and nods.

"Don't tell the others huh?" he asks.

"I can't believe you'd want to date a computer program! Freak!" Taelia exclaims.

"I want everyone to calm down immediately! Sir, you can release Miss Smith if she promises to behave herself on the way to the police station," Mr. Delmas says.

"Fine," I scoff. Letting go of me, the detective goes over to Jeremy.

"Son let's go," he orders. Shaking his head, Jeremy remains standing next to his chair.

" _Jeremy, Aelita just entered the tower!"_ Odd informs.

" _Activate the return to the past program! Hurry!" Ulrich exclaims._

Looking at the computer, Jeremy goes to sit on his chair. The two policemen run over and grab him, forcing him out of the chair. They start to drag him toward the freight elevator.

"Lila hurry and activate the program! You've done it before!" Jeremy exclaims, struggling to try and get free from the two police men's grip.

"Right!" I exclaim. The detective and Delmas try to grab me, and I run over to the computer. Typing on the keyboard, I set the return to the past program up. A countdown with a small image of the globe appears on the window, and the countdown reaches zero.

"Return to the past, NOW!" I yell and press the enter key. Mr. Delmas yelps and Taelia tries to take cover. The policemen who are trying to drag Jeremy into the freight elevator, let go of him by mistake and the detective looks confused. A big bubble appears and engulfs us all, sending us back in time.

 **Earlier, in the morning**

 **Back in Mrs. Hertz's class**

Sitting down in the same seats we took the first time, I take a pencil from my bag and my notebook, and put them on the desk. Mrs. Hertz and Mr. Delmas walk into room.

"Hello everyone, and good morning. I have an announcement to make before beginning today's class. You have a new student to welcome. Please, you can come in," Mr. Delmas gestures to Taelia, who is waiting outside. Taelia walks into the classroom. Some of our classmates are surprised by her appearance, and they get up from their chairs to greet her.

"I overheard Sissi saying that Taelia is an orphan. That's why she didn't talk about her family," Ulrich says.

Jeremy shakes his head,

"Looking closely, they don't have similar features at all. Eyes, nose, and their hair are different. They're definitely not identical at all, why did you guys think she was Aelita?" he asks.

"Please tell me he's not blaming us," I say, glaring at him.

"I think he is," Ulrich grumbles.

"Yup, sure sounds like it," Odd agrees.

"Come on guys, you'd have to blind not to see their differences," Jeremy smiles, looking at us.

 _Jeremy… if it weren't for that punch I threw at Taelia that I asked you, to keep a secret from the others… I'd tell Ulrich and Odd that you're blindly in love with Aelita!_ I think.

 **And done! Don't forget to review!**

Author's note: We'll be skipping a few episodes from the show. The episode titled The Trap, will be up next. The scene from a future chapter has finally been put into this chapter. Unfortunately due to the nature of the chapter, I cannot say which chapter it is. But Lila and Taelia's confrontation has been edited.

 **LyokoWarrior1994**


	14. The Trap

**This chapter was written by me and edited by AwesomeFanfictionAuthor.**

 **Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is owned by Moonscoop.**

 **I only own Lila. Mary is owned by AeroJester203.**

 _The Trap_

 **In Lila's room**

 **POV Lila's**

 _Dear Diary,_

 _Three months have passed since I saw a girl who looked like Aelita._ _Her name was Taelia. Unfortunately, she didn't feel like she belonged_ _at the school, and decided to leave. Might be for the best considering_ _I did punch Taelia, when she made fun of Aelita. Since then, we've been battling Xana one attack after the other. The attacks consisted of rats_ _that Xana possessed, and trust me that wasn't fun at all. The next one_ _after that he used hornets. Sheesh, what's up with Xana possessing animals? I mean, rats are gross but hornets can actually kill a person_ _you know! And, poor Kiwi got stung! Thankfully, with a return to the_ _past, everything was set back to normal. Jeremy tried a new approach_ _to materializing Aelita. He almost lost her again... and she sacrificed_ _herself to deactivate the tower. But thankfully, with a strand of her_ _hair Jeremy materialized to Earth, he was able to fully restore Aelita._ _I was crying like a baby though when we thought we had_ _lost her for good. She's such a special person and saved our school_ _during that attack, when the building was beginning to crumble. Odd_ _and I had to help Milly and Tamiya, who didn't even hear the announcement that the school was being evacuated. But, with the return trip and that lucky strand of hair, everything turned out okay._

 _That's what I've been doing these past few months... and to top it off, this week makes a year since Jeremy turned the supercomputer on. It also means...I've been stranded in this timeline for almost a full year. I'm technically 24 years old. But because of my age decreasing with time traveling… I should be 14 any day now. It's a shame I don't know when my own birthday is. My dad and I only celebrated it when we could, and it was a different month whenever we would celebrate. Some years we couldn't really because of Xana. Mary and I have gotten much closer too. She and I fight well on Lyoko as a team. Her attacks are great for whenever we're dealing with groups of monsters on Lyoko. We still have quite a bit of money left from the lotto she won way back when. She told me that today she'd be away, as she needed to buy something. I have no idea what though. Anyways, I probably should get going to physics class. Write more soon!_

 _Lila._

 **In Mrs. Hertz's class**

Sitting in class next to Jeremy, I take notes on Mrs. Hertz's lecture. Mrs. Hertz's turns to us, and asking a question Jeremy ponders on the question Mrs. Hertz just asked. I raise my hand enthusiastically, and Mrs. Hertz's nods. Answering the question, I answer it right. Ulrich and Odd seem surprised, as usual. Jeremy can't help but smile. We continue taking notes, while Odd doodles. Mrs. Hertz's demands the doodle be confiscated, and is clearly tired of Odd's antics. Herb laughs at this. Despite Herb's laughter, Odd can't help but smile at his own artistic prowess. Mrs. Hertz angrily taps her foot to get Odd's attention. She calls on him to solve an equation, knowing he isn't paying attention. Once again, Herb starts laughing. Odd blows a raspberry at Herb, and Mrs. Hertz scolds Odd again, then goes over to turn the projector screen on. She brings up a few equations using the projector screen, and I start writing down notes again.

 **In Mrs. Meyer's class**

When the bell rings we go right from Mrs. Hertz's class to Mrs. Meyer's. There's a test today, seems Odd forgot. I look at everyone who's still writing down answers for their exams. Mrs. Meyer walks to the front of the row where Ulrich is sitting by himself. Odd and Jeremy are sitting together, and I'm sitting behind them.

"Is something the matter you two?" Mrs. Meyer asks, looking at Jeremy and me.

 _She must have noticed we hadn't written anything down in a while. Then again, Jeremy and I have both been doing well in this class,_ I think.

"No ma'am. I've completed the exam," I reply.

"So, have I," Jeremy says.

Some of our classmate's gasp, murmuring among themselves. Mrs. Meyer takes Jeremy's exam, and looks over it.

 _Why are they still surprised we finish tests early? It's been a year,_ I think.

"You've done an excellent job," Mrs. Meyer compliments. Then she picks up my test and scans it over, noticing a few obvious wrong answers I purposely wrote in.

"You did well too Lila," Mrs. Meyer nods.

"Thank you," I say, and she goes to stack the exams on her desk.

"Everyone please continue working," Mrs. Meyer requests.

"I forgot today's her birthday," Jeremy says under his breath.

"Jeremy, you can leave if you wish. You too Lila," Mrs. Meyer says.

"You don't have to go, you can help me out you know," Odd jokes in a hushed whisper.

Jeremy gets up. I get up as well.

"I forgot, today makes exactly a year since we've met Aelita," he says and starts walking away. I walk with him.

"It's Aelita birthday today… did you remember?" Odd asks, whispering to Ulrich.

"No. That's right it is. I completely forgot," Ulrich replies.

"Who are you talking about?" Sissi asks.

"None of your business. Stay out of it," Ulrich replies and we leave the classroom.

 **After class**

 **By the vending machine area**

Jeremy and I wait by the vending machines for the rest of the gang to get out of class. Finally, the bell rings, and the rest of them join us, excluding Yumi. Ulrich puts a coin into a slot to make a selection, he scans his finger over the drink options.

"I can't believe it's been a whole year," Ulrich says and picks a number. His drink dispenses into the cup and Ulrich takes it.

"It's been a whole year and I still haven't even managed to materialize her," Jeremy says sadly.

"True, but look at the bright side: we've protected her from Xana. It's only a matter of time," Ulrich tries to reassure Jeremy, then takes a sip of his drink.

"How about this? Instead of going to lunch, let's use the lunch hour and throw her a surprise party. I'm sure she'd like it," Odd offers.

"Great idea!" Jeremy exclaims. "Let's go to the factory!"

"Okay!" I exclaim happily.

"I'll catch up with you guys soon. I made a promise to Yumi that I'd see her after class," Ulrich says.

"Okay! Meet with us when you can," I smile. Ulrich nods, and we start making our way to the factory.

 **In the tunnel**

 _I'm glad we decided to walk to the factory… it's kind of nice when we're not in a rush,_ I think.

"Speaking of birthdays, tell us Lila, when's yours?" Odd asks.

"Tomorrow actually," I reply.

"Huh, it is?" Jeremy asks.

"Your birthday is the day after we formed the group? How cool is that!" Odd exclaims.

"It is, yeah," I reply.

 _It's been a whole year since I joined the team… a year I've been in the past. I'm not sure when my actual birthday is, but October 11_ _th_ _is a better date than nothing,_ I think.

 **Inside the factory**

We make a run for the factory, hoping nobody sees us. Using the momentum from our run, we grab onto the hanging ropes and swing down. Once we hit the ground, we make our way to the freight elevator.

"I wonder what kind of present I should get for Aelita?" Jeremy asks. "Lila, since your birthday is tomorrow, is there anything you want?"

"No! Of course not, I'm not into presents. Thank you though," I reply.

"I have an idea for Aelita's gift. You can program her a digital cake, that would be neat, huh?" Odd asks.

"Hysterical Odd," Jeremy replies sarcastically. Jeremy presses the red button, but the freight elevator doesn't start. He presses it again, still nothing. He button smashes it a bit, but still, nothing. He sighs and gives up.

"Einstein, what's the matter?" Odd asks.

"Please tell me the freight elevator isn't broken," I reply.

"Might not be broken. Perhaps a power cut of some type. There's a couple of fuse boxes in the control room we can check out," Jeremy says.

"Okay, let's go," Odd says.

 **Main control room**

Looking around in the main control room, I can tell this place hasn't been touched in a long time. There's a lot of dusty machinery in here. I notice the main feature of this room, an old conveyor belt.

 _I guess this place use to be some sort of old assembly line? Weird,_ I think.

"It's been ages since we've been here. I'd nearly forgotten what this place looked like. It's neat, isn't it?" Odd asks.

"A hunk of junk more like it," Jeremy replies, walking to the stairs.

 _Hunk of junk or not, this place still gives me the creeps,_ I think, shivering internally.

Hearing a faint sound close by, Jeremy seems to hear it too. Reaching the stairs, we start walking up them. Suddenly, we hear a loud bang from somewhere within the factory.

"What could that have been?" Jeremy asks.

"Let's go find out," Odd replies. Going back down the stairs we see the conveyor belt moving.

"What in the world?" I ask.

"IT'S A TRAP!" Odd exclaims. Several pieces of machinery start moving menacingly in our direction. Odd and I get into a fighting stance. Jeremy's phone starts ringing, and he answers it.

"Yumi, is everything okay?" Jeremy asks. There's a short pause. "In the elevator? That's the loud crash we heard. We're trapped in the machine r-"

Odd and I cut Jeremy off, pushing him to the side to protect him from the machines coming at his head. Jeremy falls to the ground. The machinery whirls around and tries to hit us, but we duck. Odd grabs a pole from the ground. He starts screaming and runs to the mechanical arm, swinging the pole at it. He fights off the mechanical arm and suddenly, the machines stop.

 _Now's my chance,_ I think. The machines start up again. I grab a pole from the same place Odd did and come at the machines, swinging. Two different mechanical arms start whirring and try to attack Jeremy then me. Jeremy continues to duck under the mechanical arms. I swiftly dodge the attacks and strike the arm twice.

Odd fights off against his mechanical arm, hitting it with his pole. However, the mechanical arms use their hands to grab mine and Odd's poles. They bend the poles at a 90-degree angle and toss them aside. I look at Odd and see the color drain from his face.

 _Oh man…_ I groan internally.

"We should leave now," Jeremy says.

"Really, genius?" Odd asks. One of the mechanical arms grabs Jeremy, who starts screaming. Grabbing him by the scruff of the neck, they fling him onto the moving conveyor belt.

"Jeremy!" Odd and I exclaim in unison.

Two of the machines whir, grabbing Odd and I.

"Put me down!" I exclaim, flailing my arms, trying to break from its hold.

"What she said!" Odd exclaims.

The machines drop us on the assembly line, and we start crawling over to Jeremy. Just as we reach him, the mechanical arms swing at him, and he gives a yelp. He manages to duck under it.

One of the mechanical arm's hand starts to drag itself across the assembly line.

 _This is just crazy!_ I think.

Jeremy yelps again and the line brings us closer to the end, where the scrap metal gets crushed. I gulp.

"Let's go, there's a way up there!" Odd exclaims, pointing to a ledge nearby. Odd jumps to the ledge and I jump on the other side of it. Jeremy jumps onto it, and we swing back down to the ground.

"This way!" Jeremy exclaims. We run down the stairs, and, once we're out of danger, we take a breather.

"If this were Lyoko, it'd be much easier," Odd says while panting.

"Aelita's most likely in danger. She's going to need yours and Lila's help," Jeremy says.

"How can we get to the lab?" I ask.

"We'll use the boiler room access," Jeremy replies.

Odd takes out his phone out and punches in a number.

"Yumi? How is everything?" he asks, there's a short pause.

"Jeremy, Lila, and I are heading to the lab now. Good luck," He replies, hanging up.

 **Boiler room**

"Xana really has it out for us this time," Jeremy says.

"Yumi said she'd meet us in the lab. She's using the shaft access," Odd informs. I hear creaking from the boiler, and steam is spurting out.

 _The boiler usually doesn't make that sounds…_ I think, a bit concerned.

"What's going on?" Jeremy asks.

"Something doesn't feel right..." I trail off.

"Are you guys ready for a hundred-yard dash?" Odd asks.

"I'd prefer math over gym," Jeremy replies.

"Me too," I nod.

"You two won't be needing math here. On your marks..." Odd trails off.

"Go!" he exclaims. He starts running.

 _Wait, what happened to get set?_ I think.

I start running and soon catch up with Odd. Jeremy falls behind, and for a moment becomes enveloped in thick smoke. He quickly sprints past the smoke and catches up with us.

 _The boiler's noises are getting worse. That thing is gonna blow!_ I think

"We're not going to get out of here in time!" I exclaim.

"Hit the deck!" Odd yells and we make a last-ditch effort. The boiler explodes, the room to start shaking, and the smoke envelops us.

 **In the lab**

We can't see, the smoke is too thick, but we hold on to each other and move forward.

"Lila, Odd, Jeremy! Are you guys there?!" Yumi calls out. We follow Yumi's voice to the lab, where the air is clear. When we get there, we're able to let go of each other.

"You're all here! I was so worried!" Yumi exclaims and runs over to us. She gives Jeremy a hug.

"The boiler room just couldn't handle us," Odd jokes. Sitting down on his chair, Jeremy takes his headset and puts it on. He starts typing on the keyboard.

 _I'm just glad we made it out in time…_ I think.

Taking out her phone, Yumi dials a number. The factory continues to shake from the aftermath of the explosion. I walk over to Jeremy's side and see that he's started a scan.

"I've started the program to search for the exact location of the tower," Jeremy informs.

"Right," I nod.

"Aelita, are you there? Can you hear me?" Jeremy asks.

"Oh... I see. Is Sissi doing okay?" Yumi asks, still talking on the phone. "Try to hold out if you can, we're going to Lyoko," she says. She hangs up.

"The water is rising in the elevator. Ulrich has a broken arm and he can't swim," Yumi informs.

"I can't get through to Aelita," Jeremy says.

A window on the holosphere pops up and blinks.

"I've confirmed the tower's location. All I have to do now-" Jeremy starts and Aelita's window pops up.

" _Jeremy!"_ she exclaims in relief.

"Aelita, thank goodness. How is everything?" Jeremy asks.

" _I've been trying to get in touch with you for ages,"_ Aelita answers.

"We had a bit of a problem... Xana managed to trap us in the factory. Ulrich's in trouble. Yumi, Odd, and Lila are on their way to Lyoko. We need to move, and fast," Jeremy explains.

"Right. We're on our way," I say. Climbing down to the scanner room, Yumi takes the right scanner, I take the middle scanner, and Odd takes the left scanner.

" _Yumi, Odd, Lila. Everything is ready. The tower is in the desert."_

We step into the scanners.

" _Transfer: Yumi, Transfer: Odd, Transfer: Lila."_

The scanners doors close.

"- _Hang on Ulrich, I need to continue the procedure,"_ Jeremy says, it sounds like Ulrich called. Closing my eyes, the scanner starts to spin.

" _Scanner: Yumi, Scanner: Odd, Scanner: Lila."_

The scanner continues to spin and begins humming.

" _Virtualization!"_

The gush of wind and bright light envelopes me. I'm virtualized to Lyoko.

 **Lyoko's Desert Sector**

My vision returns as we land in the desert sector, in front of the tower. Three Krabs are guarding it, and they spot us. They start to charge their lasers. Yumi takes out her fan and I take out my sword. The Krabs fire their lasers. Unsheathing my sword, I take it out and block one of the lasers. Yumi uses her fan to block another.

Odd dodges the third laser and Yumi throws her fan. The fan flies to one of the Krabs, but the Krab fires a laser at it, and the fan falls to the ground. Yumi brings it back with telepathy.

"Aelita, it's time for you to do your thing. Odd, Yumi, I'm going to need a distraction," I say to Aelita who is hiding behind a slanted rock.

"What are you going to do?" Yumi asks.

"It'll probably drain all of my life points, since I never used a fully charged superwave before... but that should give Aelita the chance to get to the tower," I answer.

"Okay, on the count of three. One, two, go!" Odd exclaims and jumps in the air. He fires off several laser arrows, getting the Krabs' attention.

"Ignesco, Ignesco, Ignesco," I chant. The flames in my sword start to flicker.

Yumi throws her fan into the air. The Krabs fire at the fan, knocking it out of the air. Yumi runs over, slides on the ground, and picks her fan up. The Krabs chase after the others, as my flames continue to grow.

"Ignesco, Ignesco, Ignesco," I continue to chant.

" _Lila, that attack is drastically draining your life points!"_

"I know, that's the point! If we're not fast enough, Ulrich and Sissi aren't going to make it!" I exclaim and continue to chant in Latin.

"Ignesco, Ignesco."

Odd and Yumi keep dodging the lasers from the Krabs, and I feel Aelita's eyes are on me. I ready my hands, and my sword's flames ignite and grow.

" _You're already down to fifty life points!"_

 _Ugh... this attack really should be used sparingly,_ I think. One of the Krabs notices me and starts charging its laser.

"Now Lila!" Aelita exclaims.

"IGNESCO!" I shout.

I swing my sword. Odd waves goodbye to the Krabs. He and Yumi run away from the incoming flames, getting out of range of the incoming attack. The flames completely engulfing the three Krabs.

Looking down at myself, I see my body devirtualizing.

"Aelita, quickly now's your-" I start to say. Aelita runs to the tower, and just as I devirtualize, I see her enter the "doorway."

 **In the scanner room**

I'm back in the scanner, panting heavily. The scanner doors open, and I collapse to the floor.

 _Definitely... not using that attack for a while,_ I think.

Yumi and Odd's scanners open up. Odd gives me a thumbs up, and I smile.

A big white bubble appears, and it engulfs all of us sending us back in time.

 **Earlier that day**

 **In Jeremy's room**

Holding the surprise cake, we bought for Aelita. We hide it behind our backs and look at her on the computer screen. She seems confused.

"Get ready Aelita," Jeremy smiles.

" _For what?"_ Aelita asks.

"You'll see," I smile.

 _Odd's idea was okay, but a real cake is better,_ I think.

" _Can someone please tell me what's going on?"_

"It's something from here," Odd says. We wait a moment for dramatic tension, then unveil the cake.

"Happy birthday Aelita!" we cheer. It's a coffee cake with whipped cream, strawberries, and one candle lit on top. We laugh.

" _I don't understand,"_ Aelita says, scratching her head.

"Today makes exactly a year since we met you and formed the group," Jeremy explains.

"Yup. You can let me have your slice," Odd jokes.

"He's got a one-track mind," Yumi says.

"Don't pay attention to him," Jeremy reassures.

"Four eyes, why don't you go and speak for yourself?" Odd asks.

"Can you guys chill out?" I ask.

"I guess... after all, it is your birthday tomorrow! You can get me an extra slice," Odd replies.

"Heh, we'll see," I say.

"It's your birthday tomorrow?" Yumi asks.

"Yup, sure is," I reply.

Ulrich seems relatively quiet, and I notice he's looking at the doorway. He stays like that for a moment, then turns back to us.

 **In Lila's room**

Opening the door to my room, I close it quietly. Turning to the direction of my bed, I see Mary is holding a small cupcake on a plate with unlit candles on it. The candles read 14.

"You didn't have to..." I trail off.

"I did. I have one last surprise. I can hack into the French government and give you an official birth certificate. What date would you like?"

"October 11th, 1992 should be the date," smile.

"Tomorrow will be the 11th. Excellent choice. Then, I'll hack into to the French government tonight, so it'll be ready tomorrow," Mary nods,

"Happy 14th," she smiles.

"Thanks, Mary," I smile. "Thank you so much for everything." I blow the candles out and smile.

 **And done! We are in the home stretch everyone! Just two chapters left until we complete season 1! Next chapter is titled: "Welcome to Earth… Aelita," as it is my version of Code: Earth. The original Code Lyoko story was set between 2002-2005. This story purposely began in 2005. Tackling the timeline for this story was a bit difficult, so if the dates seem off from the show, don't worry about it. I just want everyone to enjoy this story because my version of "Code: Earth," will be worth the wait! There should be an update no later than June 2nd!**

 **Don't forget to review!**

 **LyokoWarrior1994**


	15. Welcome to Earth Aelita

This chapter was written by me and edited by AeroJester203.

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko, all copyrighting belongs to MoonScoop.

I only own Lila, and Mary is owned by AeroJester203.

Enjoy the chapter!

Author's Note: Diary summaries have been updated. The skipped chapters Laughing Fit, Claustrophobia, and Frontier have new entries that fit Lila being more on Lyoko instead of on Earth. These will of course been seen in the Adventures of Lila Belpois. Of course any other chapters that don't necessarily fit the diary summaries, will be updated.

 _Welcome to Earth... Aelita_

 **In Lila's room**

 **POV Lila's**

I start writing in my diary, as it's early in the morning.

 _Dear Diary,_

 _Two months have passed since I turned 14. It's December now, and it's rather warm for this month, which is a bit strange, considering December is usually the coldest time of the year in France. It'll be Christmas soon… and in these last two months Xana's attacks have been ridiculous._

 _First, he possessed and controlled laughing to try and kill Yumi, Ulrich, and Jeremy. This wasn't good for Yumi since her parents were having marital problems. Odd was effected by gas during a transfer. Mary was able to protect me from it by neutralizing it just before I was transferred. Once we were on the mountain sector, Jeremy had left because Mary assumed the gas was attacking Jeremy. With only two monsters to deal with once we found a way tower, Odd suggested that I use my magic to deal with the monsters. There were only two Bloks and I made short work with them using my Ignesco spell. We met up with Aelita and Odd started to get worse from the gas that effected him. The path the three of us went on lead us to a labyrinth. We eventually found the activated tower. Shortly after that, Odd, and Ulrich were trapped in the cafeteria since Xana possessed the cafeteria itself and electrified all the walls. Yumi, myself and Jeremy were outside, though, so we went to Lyoko to help Aelita. Jeremy activated a return trip afterward and everything went back to normal._

 _The next attack was a bit strange. Ulrich had gotten amnesia, from one of Mrs. Hertz's projects that Xana had taken control of. Of course, Sissi took advantage of Ulrich's amnesia and made him believe we were his enemies! Ugh, Miss Delmas is a real spoiled brat at this age. Then again, it was Odd's fault for slapping the gel onto Ulrich in the first place. Sissi also tricked him into thinking that she was his girlfriend. Eventually, we got Ulrich to Lyoko, but he had to be retrained in fighting and told that it was like a video game to ease him into it. Aelita managed to deactivate the tower, which thankfully restored Ulrich's memories after the return trip._

 _After that, Xana was quiet for the rest of the month. In the beginning of November, he sent an attack where he used music to put everyone into a coma!_

 _I easily could have been a victim._ _Thankfully, with the help from Mary neutralizing the affect of the song from reaching my mind by possessing a set of headphones, (which I got a new mp3 player from her) I was immune to Xana's attempt. Odd became the first victim. Ulrich, Jeremy, and I had to go to the hospital with him in an ambulance. Once we were there, we did our own things for a bit. Ulrich checking on Odd, I had to talk with Mary about something, and as it turned out Jeremy ending contacting Aelita. We left the hospital shortly after that with us thinking Xana was involved. Yumi remained at school, but when we got to the to the lab she told us the song started affecting more people. Jeremy even said Xana was "using the media itself for maximum coverage." Basically he turned a song into an epidemic. Ulrich and I were virtualized to the mountain sector to help Aelita. We had some trouble, Ulrich managed to get frozen by a Blok which I then killed. I grouped up with Aelita again, but one Blok arrived. It fired at us then Yumi showed up. From between the fighting with the Bloks, Ulrich finally got free and gave us time to get Aelita to a tower. Unfortunately, he was devirtualized since Aelita was hit by one of the remaining Bloks. I took action and destroyed the Blok. From there, Yumi, myself, and Aelita went to the had to jump on these floating platforms, it was like an obstacle course. Unfortunately Yumi and I missed a step, we didn't reach our next platform and fell. But we were able to grab onto a platform. The two of us wanted Aelita to go on ahead and so she did. A return to the past was launched shortly after that. I ended up back in my room. I received some texts from Odd and Ulrich, so I texted them. I then went to sit on the bed with Mary. We had a chat, about how I could have a been a victim. She comforted me by placing her hand on my shoulder and I then decided to delete any songs in my mp3 that wasn't related to the Subsonics. I told myself I didn't want to be reminded, of what I basically dubbed as 'killer music,' since I was really worried about Odd during the attack._

 _The following week, Jeremy yelled at Aelita for some reason. He felt so bad that he wanted to go to Lyoko. And he did! But, something went wrong, and he ended up somewhere between Lyoko and Earth. Let's call it a virtual limbo._ _Aelita was still able to communicate with Jeremy in the limbo since his mind was melded into the digital interface even with his body slowly fading away, and he provided a theoretical way to get him back to the scanners. Collecting data from the towers on all four sectors despite Xana trying to stop Aelita._ _We had to take turns monitoring things with Aelita. By the fourth sector, things were going so well but Aelita started losing her communication with Jeremy. Ulrich came up with a good idea of trying to get one of us to Lyoko, because one person would be enough to help Aelita. All we needed was Jeremy's laptop. Ulrich called Yumi to get Jeremy's laptop. Unfortunately, Yumi got caught by Jim and was taken to Delmas's office. So Odd and I had taken over monitoring things, while Ulrich went to get Yumi. Somehow he got her to come back along with Jeremy's laptop. He never really explained how he convinced Delmas to let her go. He mentioned making some sort of deal with Sissi but I felt like I didn't hear the full conversation he had with Odd before heading into the elevator. He seemed upset. Yumi connecting the laptop to the supercomputer, she was able to help give it the extra power it needed to launch another virtualization through one scanner. She was able to virtualize me. I helped Aelita out by defeating two Bloks. After that, I was able to help her to get the last of the data she needed to save Jeremy and it was good thing too. We saved him in the nick of time. But later at night, after we had saved him, he mentioned he had a fantastic experience. I'm glad he was saved... I'm not sure what I would do without him. I informed Mary before lights out, that I think the others are going to need to learn how to work the supercomputer and program their own virtualizations sooner rather than later. She agreed._

 _A few days after there was a robot competition. Jeremy built a robot modeled after Kiwi, but it lost to Herb's robot modeled after Sissi. Xana must have had a similar idea, because he sent out a robot of his own to get rid of us. With the help of Herb – yes, Herb actually helped – despite cheating his way to victory– Yumi, Ulrich, and I were able to distract it long enough for Jeremy and Odd to get to the factory. Odd handled the monsters, mostly alone on Lyoko the whole time. But when Yumi, Ulrich, and I got to the factory there was another robot waiting for us! Yumi and I managed to get to Lyoko, shortly after Odd was devirtualized. Yumi took care of a Kankerlat that cornered Aelita. I went for the other one and used a Fire Bolt on it, but Yumi took care of it before I could finish it off. Thankfully Aelita deactivated the tower, and a return trip was set. Jeremy won the competition this time around, with Herb being a sore loser. While I appreciated that he helped us out the first time around, I couldn't condone the cheating. Mary and I had a talk after the competition. During the conversation, she told me she had a glimpse of the robot. We talked about how thankfully it hadn't been in my future, at least to our knowledge. When we did finish our conversation, I told Mary I would be joining the others for dinner. But one thing did bother me. I just hoped that when she caught a glimpse of the robot, it didn't catch a glimpse of her.  
_

 _The next attack showed a whole new level of Xana's power. He messed with the gravity itself around the school! Bringing it into the negatives, he nearly floated Ulrich and the school into space during a soccer game Ulrich had no choice but to go to. It was tough getting Aelita to the tower. We dealt with a lot of Hornets, and since I brought Mary with me we managed to use the magic bomb spell. However, getting to the tower wasn't easy even after that. Aelita gave us a bit of a scare, making us believe she sacrificed herself. All of us were relieved to find out she was alive, using a clone of sorts to distract the Hornets that were giving Yumi, Odd, and I a lot of trouble. We managed to bring Aelita to the tower just in time. After a return trip, everything went back to normal as usual. Jeremy, Yumi, Odd, and I even got to watch Ulrich's game this time._

 _The week after that, there were multiple attacks in a row that week! Mary was even impressed by Xana's persistence. Ulrich, however, wasn't, he was bummed out by the overload of all the schoolwork and Xana attacks. He met a girl named Emily, and she and him got along well, making Yumi jealous. There was some sort of disturbance on Earth, so we had to go to Lyoko. It wasn't easy, with the way Ulrich and Yumi were behaving. Xana even bugged up the devirtualization program, so if we were killed on Lyoko, we died for real! Thankfully, with the help from Jeremy and Aelita, they fixed the program, Aelita deactivated the tower, and everything was back to normal. Yumi... even told me Ulrich and her had a little kiss on Lyoko. *giggle.* But, she made me swear to never reveal it to Ulrich and the others that I know._

 _A few days after that, I finally met Samantha Knight in person. She was a bit rough around the edges, trying to steal a laptop from the school. But, Odd wanted to throw a party, and she needed a great laptop for her DJing. Is that even a word? Anyway, this got Odd into trouble, and he almost got suspended from school. It was a rough time for him, but then Xana launched an attack and everything started to sink. The school grounds, along with the school itself. We had almost hit a literal rock bottom, but stopped the attack in time with Aelita._

 _Forward to the end of the month, and that attack was the creepiest one of all. Xana trapped Ulrich, Yumi, Odd and I in some kind of pocket reality. It was mirrored after the real world, and Xana ran the place while he took the form of my father. I noticed the inconsistencies right away: my missing time machine necklace, my copy of my father's laptop from the future being gone, and Mary didn't even exist. I had to play it cool though, and the real Jeremy eventually virtualized himself into the fake world, appearing how he does in the real world since he integrated himself into Xana's creation. It turned out we were on Lyoko all along. Our Jeremy convinced us not to use the scanners . Xana was trying to lure us into, causing Xana to become confused and enraged at the illogic of his actions, since his data said that Jeremy would be too scared to virtualize himself. But Aelita took care of the pocket reality, banishing Xana before he could try to kill my Jeremy and getting Jeremy to safety. We had to take out a large group of monsters that had been lying in ambush day._

 _One thing I noticed throughout the attacks. Sissi proved herself useful in some of them. She also showed she cared about us, even Milly and Tamiya. But her spoiled attitude ruins the good that is within her. Anyway, I'd better get going. Jeremy is going to test out the latest materialization program, and something tells me this is it! I think we're finally going to materialize Aelita! Write more soon._

 _Lila._

I close the diary, locking it and putting it back in the usual drawer I put it in, I turn to Mary.

"This looks like it's going to be the day when we materialize Aelita," I say.

"It does. And for that reason, I'm going to go with you just in case there's trouble," Mary tells me.

I hold my cell phone out. She transforms into her smoke form and integrates herself into the device. I place the phone in my pocket before making my way to Jeremy's room.

 **Later**

 **In Jeremy's room**

Jeremy tests the materialization program on the computer in his room. We're all gathered around, Ulrich with his hand around his shoulder. The program runs, scanning Aelita's image, and a green plus sign pops up.

"It's finally working, we've got it!" Jeremy exclaims. "I - I just can't believe it."

We cheer for him and pull him into a big group hug.

"Let's tell Aelita," I smile.

"Right!" Jeremy exclaims happily, he starts typing on his keyboard.

"Aelita, are you there? We have some good news to tell you..."

Aelita's window pops up, and she asks,

 _"What's the good news Jeremy?"_

"I'm not sure how to tell you this Aelita. The thing is... we're waiting for you here," he say, while clasping his hands together in happiness.

 _"Are you serious?!"_ Aelita exclaims.

Nodding, we all reply at the same time, "We're serious!"

 _"The materialization is running properly?"_ she asks. _"It's truly working?"_

Jeremy holds up a disc, "Everything is compiled in here. It was an intricate system. I had to start, by reconstructing the inertial matrix. As well as all of the DNA to-"

"Hang on a second Einstein," Odd interrupts him. He looks at us, we smile at him and Ulrich lets out an exaggerated yawn. Ulrich turns to Aelita.

"Basically, it's working," the brunet says, cutting to the chase.

 _"Jeremy, that's fantastic! I can hardly believe it!"_

"Well, you should get used to it, and quickly," Odd says with a huge grin.

"It's the moment of truth, and then it's adios Xana!"

"Wait a minute," Jeremy requests. He places the CD into a case. "It won't be that easy; I've got to set up a couple of things first, the first being to create the program and set it into the supercomputer. Then Aelita will use a passage tower located in the forest region, and that's where she'll devirtualize. And after that, she'll appear in the scanners for the very first time!"

 _"I'll start making my way there,"_ Aelita says.

"We'll get going to class, and from there, the factory," he says.

I nod, "Right."

Aelita tentatively smiles, _"I - I guess I'll be seeing you all soon."_

"It looks like we're going to be six for dinner tonight," Jeremy smiles back at her before her window closes. He turns his back to us,

"Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, can you keep a look out for Jim?"

"Right, we will," Yumi replies. The three of them walk out. Jeremy grabs a CD case. My eyes widen, catching on to where his hand had grabbed.

"Jeremy, wait a second!" I exclaim in a whisper. I put a hand on his shoulder.

He turns to me in surprise, "What?"

"That's the wrong case!"

"It is?" Jeremy questions. He looks closely at the nearly identical CD inside.

"You're right... it's one of Odd's dumb music videos. Phew, here's the right one," he says, grabbing the right disk.

Jeremy and I run out of the room.

 **Outside Jeremy's room**

 **On the boy's dorm floor**

Odd, Ulrich and Yumi following behind us.

Jim appears in front of us from around a corner, causing him to stop running, which makes all of us to bump into each other and grunt from the various impacts as we try to get back in order.

"Let me guess, you five are up to no good as usual," Jim accuses. "Am I right?"

"Not at all," I reply smoothly. "We were just having a group study."

The gym teacher rolls his eyes before crossing his arms, "Yeah, sure you were. I'm tired of your constant lying to me. We're all going to stay right here, until you decide to tell me the truth."

"Jim," Mr. Delmas calls out. Jim winces, hearing his name. We look at Mr. Delmas who had just entered the hallway from the other side. "What's the meaning of this?" the principal asks. He walks to us.

"I'm not sure entirely, sir. But, these children are up to no good! I assure you of that," Jim says.

Mr. Delmas shakes his head, "Another far-fetched tale of secret conspiracies and hidden passages?"

"Far-fetched tale? What are you implying?"

"Jim, what I'm implying is this: your tales are simply that, tales," he replies sternly.

"Sir, I-" Jim starts, he lowers his head.

"Please listen. You have an obsession with these children. You're preoccupying your time too much. Start acting like a physical education teacher, not a police detective. I'm getting on my last nerves," Mr. Delmas warns. He pokes Jim's belly.

 _I feel bad for him... considering he's right and all..._ I think.

He walks away and opens the doors at the end of the hallway to leave. Jim has his head down, and I can't help but feel bad for him. He scowls at us.

"Are you waiting for something? Go to class, now!" he exclaims.

 **In Mrs. Hertz's class**

Odd and Ulrich are sitting together in class, while I sit with Jeremy. I've been trying to contain my excitement about meeting Aelita in person.

 _I can't wait to meet her! This is so exciting!_ I think.

"Animals all breathe like us. They're able to breathe using oxygen. Some can go on land and use the air to travel," Mrs. Hertz explains.

"It's really going to happen, isn't it?" I whisper to Jeremy, who nods.

Jeremy's laptop begins to beep as he opens it. Ulrich and Odd look at us from further back in the room.

"While breathing, animals and humans take in oxygen. They then let out carbon dioxide," Mrs. Hertz explains.

"What's the matter?" Odd asks from his table.

Jeremy whispers back, "There's something wrong with Aelita; I think she's in danger."

"Certain factors allow this process to occur. It is a rare process, but who can tell us what this process is?" Mrs. Hertz asks while turning around. Jeremy quickly hides his laptop.

"Jeremy, would you like to answer the question? We're all waiting," Mrs. Hertz says.

Jeremy doesn't answer, since he wasn't paying attention. I raise my hand.

"Lila?"

"Respiration, ma'am," I reply.

"Well done, Lila," Mrs. Hertz compliments. The bells ring. We all start running out of the classroom, and start running down the hallway.

"Pardon us!" Odd exclaims.

Ulrich takes out his phone, running with it. He dials a number and calls Yumi.

"Yumi there's trouble! Meet us at the factory!" he informs.

 **Later**

 **Outside**

We run outside, jumping off the stairs out of the building, making our way to the main gate to the park. Jim, however, blocks the way with a smug smile.

"You four aren't going anywhere," he says. Discreetly taking my cell phone out, I hold it behind my back. I smile, hearing Mary wisp away.

Jim catches on and regards me suspiciously, "What are you smiling about Smith?"

"Nothing, sir," I reply.

We see Mary at the main gate in her human form, waving her hand.

"Lila!" she calls. "I'm waiting for your friends to go and eat. Would your gym teacher like to join us too?"

Jim turns to her in surprise, then turns back to me with a scowl, as if knowing I was behind the cover-up even without any proof.

"I'll get you kids one of these days! Then you won't be able to keep any secrets from me! Just go!" he shouts, crossing his arms.

Jeremy, Odd, and Ulrich exchange glances at me, but shrug. We start running again while my "mother" starts walks away, raising more suspicious looks from the boys. Entering the main gate, she's nowhere in sight anymore, despite the open area.

"Whoa... is your mom a ghost or something Lila?" Odd asks. We continue making our way to the manhole entrance.

Jeremy adjusts his glasses and mutters, "She disappeared..."

Hearing a faint wisp sound nearing my phone, I speak up.

"Um... would you believe me if I told you she's a shape shifting human from the future?" I ask, joking slightly.

Odd laughs, "I thought _my_ jokes were funny, but that's a good one. Maybe we just missed her car, and she parked it around the corner."

 **In the woods**

Reaching the manhole entrance, we see Yumi waiting there to meet us.

"Finally! Where were you guys?" she asks removing the metal lid.

"Jim tried to stop us, but Lila's mom helped us escape," Ulrich explains.

Yumi starts making her way down the manhole, raising an eyebrow, "She did? Why would she?"

 **In the lab**

Jeremy rushes to his chair. Sitting down, he opens the CD disk and quickly slides it into a disk drive on the side of the computer. Gathering around his chair, we watch him start typing rapidly. He brings up Aelita's link.

"Aelita, are you there? What's the situation?" he asks.

Aelita's window pops up _,_

 _"Thank goodness you're all here! It took such a long time. The passage tower is heavily guarded."_

Jeremy continues typing, bringing up another window with Aelita's position and several red monster icons surrounding the tower.

"I've got your location," he says. We start running to the elevator. "Help is on the way."

 **In the scanner room**

Jeremy speaks up over the intercom.

 _"I'm transferring you to the forest region. Aelita will be south from your position. Lila, you'll have to go last."_

"Okay," I say.

Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd step into the scanners, the hatches then close.

Jeremy announces,

 _"Transfer: Yumi, Transfer: Ulrich, Transfer: Odd. Scanner: Yumi, Scanner: Ulrich, Scanner: Odd. Virtualization!"_

The scanner starts humming. The scanners flare with white light between the cracks before they reopen. Running to the middle one, I hurriedly slide in before it closes again.

 _"Transfer: Lila,"_ Jeremy begins. Closing my eyes, the scanner starts to spin.

" _Scanner: Lila."_

The scanner continues to spin, and starts humming.

I wait for the gush of wind and bright light.

"Virtualization!"

 **Lyoko's Forest Sector**

Opening my eyes, I look down at the others waiting for me. I land perfectly, and we start running in the direction of the tower.

 _"I'm going to start launching the Code: Earth program. It's going to take a while to fully launch the process. While I set things up, I'm going to need you guys to protect Aelita and her tower. If that tower is destroyed during the Code: Earth process, well... I won't have to explain what happens."_

"We know, don't worry Jeremy," Yumi replies. "We're going to bring Aelita here!" she exclaims.

Ulrich regards me while we're running, "What I would like to know... is why your mom was helping us?"

"She doesn't know about Lyoko, does she?" Odd asks.

"Of course not!" I lie. "She just happened to be there at the right time. She usually goes on walks near campus, so she may have seen we were in a predicament and needed to go off campus."

Jeremy chimes in _, "Good timing then. Do you see Aelita?"_

Looking around, we see her pink hair poking out from within a split tree. She spots us.

"I'm glad you're all here! Xana's not going to make this easy. Look," Aelita says, we reach her.

Looking straight to the tower, we see several Bloks along with two Krabs.

"Talk about a welcoming committee," Odd jokes.

Ulrich draws out his Katana, "Xana must know the end is near, and he's not going to want to go down without a fight."

 _"He's right, you'll need to plan your attacks carefully,"_ Jeremy warns.

"Odd, you're going with me against the Bloks," the brunet samurai instructs.

"Yumi, Lila, take care of the Krabs. Think you can stay here, Aelita?"

"I will," Aelita nods.

I unsheathe my staff readying it,

"Okay... let's do this!"

All of us nod to each other before Yumi and I start running from the right side of the tree, getting the Krabs' attention. Yumi quickly grabs her Tessen fan and extends it while I begin chanting in Latin.

"Exardesco! Exardesco!" I exclaim. I fire off two Fire Bolts. Each of them somehow miss the Krabs. The Krabs start firing their lasers. Yumi and I dodge them.

 _ **Lila, can I be of some help?**_

Continuing to dodge the incoming lasers, Yumi and I roll to a nearby tree for cover.

 _I'm not sure… these Krabs aren't giving us a chance to gather the magic we need for the Strength spell. We definitely can't use the Magic Bomb spell yet…_

 _ **No, you're right, not yet we can't. When the time is right, we'll get the chance.**_

"Yumi, I'm going to need you to use your telepathy on me," I say standing back up, and shocking her.

"On you?" she asks. "You're sure? I've only ever telepathically carried Aelita over before… but if you're sure."

"I am. When I give you the cue, I want you to fly me towards one of the Krabs, okay?" I instruct.

I hear Odd shooting his Laser Arrows at the Kankrelats with gleeful laughter. Closing her eyes, she lifts her hand at me and her body begins to glow. I start levitating into the air, the Krabs begin to charge their lasers. Yumi steps a little further from her cover to get a clear view of the trajectory as she starts to use her other hand, levitating me faster and higher.

"And... now!" I exclaim.

She thrusts her hands forward at the same time, sending me flying. Two laser blasts miss me since the monsters were clearly expecting a slower target. Unsheathing my sword, I fly towards the first Krab, sticking a landing on its head. The giant monster tries to buck me off, but I cling onto the Krab with my arms before gaining my bearings long enough to stab it in its weak point. With the monster starting to wobble, I jump off of it and onto the other one, plunging the blade with my landing this time. I jump off of the now wobbling Krab, the two exploding one after another. I sheathe my sword.

"Nice work," Yumi compliments.

Walking up to her, I smile, "Thanks."

Her eyes widen suddenly, and she pushes me out of the way as a laser wave strikes her down. She completely devirtualizes.

Turning around, I see a Megatank already open and charging another blast. I quickly grab my staff, and start chanting in Latin.

"Exarde-" I start to chant, but stop. The mechanical monster is clearly about to fire.

 _I'm not going to make it! Mary get ready to use the-_

Before finishing my mental sentence, Ulrich jumps in front of me.

"Get Aelita to the tower! Odd handled all the roaches with his cat moves, but a Blok got him while he was distracted, and he was devirtualized. I took care of the Blok but missed this Megatank here. Jeremy is that program ready yet?" the samurai asks.

"Triangulate!" He exclaims. Running in a triangle, he makes two clones of himself. The Megatank turns to it, aiming on at one of the clones.

 _"Yes, it's ready!"_ Jeremy confirms.

I nod, thanking Ulrich. He nods back. Spotting Aelita running across to the tower while the last monster is occupied, I run to her. I quickly catch up to her.

"I heard the program is ready!" Aelita smiles.

"Yes, now let's go and get you to the tower!" I exclaim happily while grabbing Aelita's hand. We continue running towards the tower.

 _ **Lila, there's something I should tell you...**_

 _Yes Mary?_

Hearing Ulrich screaming from afar, Aelita and I look to each other before I release her hand to let her go on ahead. The tower is only a few yards away.

 _"Lila, you're the only left to protect Aelita and her tower! Please, keep her safe!"_ Jeremy exclaims.

"I know," I reply while turning around. Glancing over with a reassuring smile, the Megatank rolls up to catch up to me. Turning to Aelita, who is watching me out of concern, I say:

"Get going Aelita. I'll see you shortly," I smile.

"Thanks!" Aelita says before turning to clear the last stretch of distance. The metal sphere rolls to stop a distance away.

Keeping my face composed into a neutral expression, I think to Mary,

 _We'll have to finish the conversation another time. Can you begin to activate the bomb spell in my staff? I'll use my sword to block the laser, and activate the strength spell to if you can. Or else it might just knock me off my feet._

 _ **Activating both spells will cost you 60 life points. Remember you can't physically use them at the same time. Charging the bomb while using the strength is fine, but you need to have an opening to get close enough to use it. I'll continue storing my energy into your staff, but I'll have to deactivate the strength spell once you have your opening.**_

 _I understand, I'll be quick!_

I begin chanting in Latin.

"Viribus! Crepitus!" I exclaim, viribus meaning strength in English and Crepitus meaning explosion in English. The Megatank opening to charge its laser, aligned so that if I dodge its attack will hit the tower. I hear the familiar shimmering sound of Aelita entering the structure behind me.

 _"Lila, she's in the tower,"_ Jeremy reports. _"And you just lost 60 life points with those spells! Make them count."_

The Megatank unleashes its laser wave and I block it with my sword, bracing it further by holding my left hand over the back of the blade. Grinding my feet against the ground as my body floods with the energy of the strength spell, I start pushing the laser wave back as it keeps trying to destroy me or knock me aside.

 _"Lila, she's starting the materialization process!"_ Jeremy exclaims.

Seeing my opening, I step to the side and angle my sword so that the laser wave slides along it to miss both me and the tower by a narrow margin. I hurriedly put my sword away, and unsheathe my staff. The strength spell deactivating.

"Crepitus!" I exclaim.

Swinging my staff, I hurl the ball of energy at the Megatank and start running. The ball of energy impacts the still open armored monster, destroying it completely. I dive away from the blast radius and sigh in relief. I sheathe my staff.

 _"Good work Lila..."_ Jeremy congratulates with relief. " _I'll start the devirtualization process."_

 _So, Mary what did you want to talk about,_ I internally ask.

 _ **Lila...**_

Hearing a strange noise, I take my sword out and ready myself for an attack. Something grabs me and before I can react, my sword falls out of my hands. It lifts me into the air. My eyes start to become heavy, and everything becomes dark.

 **POV Aelita's**

I lay on the hard floor of the scanner and I wake up. Looking to myself, I have clothing like my friends do. A light pink sweater, a yellow t shirt, and a black skirt. The scanner doors open, and Jeremy is holding out his hand. Looking at him, he smiles.

"Welcome to Earth... Aelita." Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi cheer. Smiling, I take Jeremy's hand and he helps me up.

 _We're holding our hands for the first time… the sensation of touch is strange. I'm going to have to get use to this,_ I think. Odd, Yumi, Jeremy, and Ulrich hug me.

"Guys - guys- I-" I stammer, feeling myself being squished by my friends. Glancing around, I notice Lila isn't here.

"Where's Lila?" I ask, concern for my friend. Odd, Ulrich, Jeremy, and Yumi let go of me. They look at each other and then back at me.

"She's not back yet?!" Jeremy exclaims. "But I started the devirtualization process!"

The scanner on the right starts humming and makes a noise. Smoke coming out of it, it fades and then reveals Lila leaning against the inside wall. Looking at her, I can hear soft moans as if she's heartbroken.

"Lila... what happened? Why are you crying?" Yumi asks, as tears continue to drop down the blonde girl's cheeks.

 **POV Lila's**

Yumi helps me up and tears continue flowing down my face. I just can't stop crying.

"What's wrong Lila?" Jeremy asks with concern.

Odd leans forward, "Did something happen on Lyoko?"

I nod.

"What happened?" Ulrich asks.

"I'm not sure what did it... but..." Trailing off, I look at them.

 _It's time I told the truth... at least some of it..._ I think.

I quietly ask, "You remember my mom?"

"Yes..." Jeremy replies, suspicion growing in his tone.

I breathe in and out to steel myself,

"The truth is... she _is_ a shapeshifter from the future... And I know that... because I came from that future. I'm a time traveler."

 **And done! Sorry to leave everyone with a major cliffhanger like this! Some of you may have noticed, that this chapter was a bit different from the actual episode. And it was. How do you think everyone will take the truth, Lila just revealed? Why was Lila crying? All that and more, will be revealed in the next chapter!**

 **Unfortunately, we won't find out what Mary wanted to Lila, for quite a while!**

 **Let me know your thoughts are in the reviews, and I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter!**

 **We'll be on a hiatus until June 20** **th** **! So sorry!**

 **LyokoWarrior1994**


	16. A false start but with some truths

**This chapter was written by me and edited by AeroJester203.**

 **Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is owned by MoonScoop. I only own my OC Lila. Mary is owned by AeroJester203.**

 **Enjoy the long-awaited chapter!**

 _A false start but with some truths_

 **In the scanner room**

 **POV Lila's**

"Wha-what did you say?" Jeremy asks, stammering a little in disbelief.

Odd is about to open his mouth, but I interrupt whatever he's going to say, "It'll be easier to show all of you. Let's go down to the supercomputer room."

They nod.

 **Inside the freight elevator**

We ride the elevator in silence, everybody staring at me as I lean against the wall with my hands in my pockets. Even with my tears dried, I'm still reeling about losing Mary. I hadn't planned to reveal the truth yet, but Xana has made me very desperate.

 _I can't keep them in the dark any longer if I want their help getting Mary back. As far as I'm concerned, Xana's thrown out the rulebook. I'm using every ounce of future knowledge to fight him now, and that's going to include changing this timeline, I think._

The freight elevator reaches the lowest floor. I push off the wall and lead the others into the dark room.

 **Inside the supercomputer room**

The lights illuminate the room, the supercomputer's tower emerging from the floor. Aelita looks at it, grabbing Jeremy's hand out of fright. He can't help but blush. Despite myself, I smile a bit at their interaction.

"So… you're a time traveler?" Aelita asks. "What's that?"

"It's a person who travels from the future to the past," Odd answers.

She seems fascinated, "Is that possible?"

"No," Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, and Jeremy reply in unison.

I sigh and take off my necklace, "Okay, just stand back a little."

They retreat a few feet away from me and I press the button on the bottom of my time machine necklace.

The necklace starts glowing as I hurriedly place it on the ground and back away. The glow gradually flares brighter until it engulfs the whole room. Everyone shields their eyes, and the glow soon dies out, revealing the beaten-up time machine. Jeremy's jaw drops slightly while the others gasp in awe.

"That's – that's just not possible," he says, letting go of Aelita's hand to approach it carefully as if to confirm whether it's real.

Odd shakes his head in disbelief, "Better believe it, she's a time traveler, Einstein."

"Okay…" Ulrich slowly says, as if trying to wrap his head around it.

"So, _when_ did you travel from?" he asks.

"The year 2043," I answer.

"And why were you crying?" Yumi asks.

"The very first time I joined you guys, I had my guardian with me. A female spectre named Mary Smith—yes, a digital entity like the ones Xana uses to possess things, but completely benevolent. She's a shapeshifting multipurpose assistant and has been acting as my mother."

"That explains a lot," Odd remarks in a thoughtful tone.

"Anyway, when I first joined, Mary was inside my cell phone. We fused on Lyoko… and sometimes she would be with me. Teaching me, guiding me…" I start to sniffle, and tears start flowing down my cheeks. Yumi goes over to me, wrapping her arm around me in an effort to comfort me.

"We're here, we believe you," she reassures. "What happened?"

"Xana, he- he took Mary from me!" I exclaim sadly.

Jeremy steps forward, "Lila… I'm so sorry. Can… I ask why you traveled this far into the past?"

I bite my lip in slight hesitation before I regain my resolve and say,

"Honestly… because of you."

"Huh? Me?" he asks with wide eyes.

Aelita looks over to the time machine and back to me.

"What did Jeremy have to do with this?"

"He created the time machine and sent me back in time for the sole purpose of destroying Xana," I reveal.

Jeremy looks at the time machine and asks in disbelief, "I - I, created this?" he asks, in disbelief.

"Yes," I reply. "You also created Mary…"

Jeremy blinks with bewilderment. "I- I did?"

"Yeah you did," I smile. "I'm not sure how you did it, but you did."

Jeremy fixes his glasses, and asks, "What was the relationship you and future me had?"

 _I can't tell him the truth… but he may believe this…_ I think.

"You knew my parents, and while they were fighting in the war, you were my guardian. It's true Mary's my guardian now, but before time traveling I never knew she existed. But during the time I've spent with her since we've formed the group… she's been more like a real mother to me," I reply. I look down at my feet.

"Was… she was a real mother to me…" reminding myself that she was taken.

Jeremy is about to say something when Ulrich interrupts him.

"Wait, back up a sec. A war? With Xana?" he asks. Looking up at Ulrich, I answer:

"Yes… in the year 2043, Xana has total domination of the world."

Odd, Ulrich, Jeremy, and Aelita lower their heads.

"At least… he did…" I trail off.

"Did?" Yumi asks.

"When I traveled into the past, and accidentally established myself into this timeline I-" I start to explain, but Jeremy interrupts while fixing his glasses.

"Your timeline was erased via the grandfather paradox, right?"

"Right," I answer. "At least, that's the assumption. There's no way of proving my timeline was erased. For all I know… it could still be out there."

"Yes, it could be," he replies. "Okay, so then we make sure in this timeline that your future never happens. Do you know what causes the events in your timeline?"

"Yes. Xana reawakens in the year 2019, which is a long way away," I reply.

Odd tilts his head in confusion, "Why not just use the time machine now and go to 2019?"

"Future Jeremy gave me a mission to find something out about Xana. A weakness I can exploit and stop Xana from reactivating in 2019. Also, before you ask, I don't know any of you in the future. I can't tell you your fates," I lie.

Ulrich grimaces as if thinking of something unpleasant, "Something tells me I don't want to know."

"What about shutting Xana down?" Yumi asks. "Will that free Mary?"

"It might give her a chance to escape his hold and leave the supercomputer," I nod.

Jeremy nods back, "Okay. Then first thing tomorrow after classes we'll shut down the supercomputer."

"Lyoko was my home… It's going to be strange shutting the supercomputer down. What if something goes wrong?" Aelita asks.

"I'm sure it'll be fine Aelita," Yumi says, unwrapping her arm from around me. She walks up to Aelita and places a hand on her shoulder. "Come on, it's getting late. We should all get a good night's sleep."

"If it's okay with you Yumi- I'd like to walk her to your place," Jeremy says stammering a little. I can see a hint of red across his face and smile slightly. Yumi does too as she nods.

Walking to the time machine, I press the red button which has now moved to the side and it shrinks back into my necklace. I place it around my neck and under my shirt once again.

"Everyone… thank you for your understanding," I say.

"You're one of us Lila. You're a Lyoko warrior. Of course, we'd understand," Ulrich says.

 **The next morning**

Waking up to my alarm blaring on my cell phone, I press the end button and force myself out of bed. Walking to the closet, I open it. I take a towel, some fresh clothes, along with some soap and shampoo and head to the girl's bathroom.

 **Outside**

 **In the courtyard**

I meet up with the guys, who are still waiting for Yumi and Aelita.

"How are you doing Lila?" Jeremy asks.

I shrug, "Could be better."

"Hey, look," Odd says. We turn to the direction Odd pointed and see Yumi and Aelita walking through the main gate. Some students exchange glances at Aelita and start whispering. Aelita and Yumi walk to us, ignoring them.

"How was your first morning on Earth, Aelita?" Jeremy asks.

Aelita smiles, "It was great! Sleeping is so wonderful!"

"I had to shake her a few times just to wake up," Yumi informs. "I almost had to resort to pouring water on her."

"Ready to see what classes are like here at Kadic?" Odd asks.

Aeltia nods, "Definitely, I just hope everything goes okay today."

"There's nothing to worry about, Aelita," Jeremy reassures.

"By the way Aelita… this may sound strange, but if people ask, you're my adopted sister okay?" I ask.

"Sister? Wouldn't it be better if she were to act as my cousin?" Odd asks.

"No, it wouldn't," I say with finality. "She should use the name Stones."

"Stones? Isn't that a name of a rock group?" Aelita asks.

Ulrich raises an eyebrow, "How do you know that?"

"I was showing Aelita some music last night before bed, she really likes them," Yumi explains.

"Hmm… Aelita Stones. I like that," Aelita smiles.

 **In History class**

Yumi had gone to her class, leaving the rest of us to walk Aelita into her classroom. She eyes the room filled with students and Mr. Fumet. Bringing her to a chair we sit down together. I sit next to her. Odd and Ulrich sit down together, with Jeremy sitting behind us.

"Today we're going to start class a bit different. We have a new student; can you introduce yourself?" Mr. Fumet asks, looking at Aelita.

"I umm… I…" Aelita starts stammering, I stand up and answer for her.

"She's my adopted sister. Her name is Aelita and she's from Canada. She's very shy," I say, sitting down. Odd smiles and nods approvingly.

"Welcome, Aelita, welcome," Mr. Fumet warmly greets. "Today we'll be learning about the 1812 war…"

 **Outside at the bench**

I sit on the bench with Aelita, she sighs in relief.

Jeremy sits down next to her, "See, Aelita, history isn't so bad."

"I think I would prefer math class instead. There's a lot of fighting going on in the world," Aelita says, a bit confused from the history lesson.

"Um… not exactly Aelita," I say.

"Yeah, I mean those wars were in the past. Now that's not to say fighting isn't happening today but-" Jeremy starts to explain before Yumi walks up to us.

"You guys ready to shut down Xana and save Mary?" she asks.

We nod, and I notice that Aelita has a look of concern on her about something.

 **In the supercomputer room**

I stand by the closed freight elevator doors, knowing that this is the others' moment as they gather around the rising supercomputer. Knowing that it wasn't over yet, but that they needed to find out about the link to Xana in order for things to progress, I keep my distance so that I can explain afterwards.

Jeremy walks up to the supercomputer, the handle emerging from the tower. Aelita starts to gasp.

"I- I" Aelita stammers.

"Aelita?" Jeremy asks, turning to her. Odd, Ulrich, and I look at her with concern.

"I've known Lyoko all of my life. It's the only home I have…" Aelita trails off, and I look at her.

"Aelita… I know what it's like losing a home, but Xana's given us a lot of grief. Don't you think it's time for a change? Not only to save Mary, but to give you a normal life, and so that you can make a home here… with us?" I ask.

Aelita turns to me, only hesitates briefly before nodding, "You're right…"

Jeremy turns to us.

"Any last words you guys?" he asks.

"I think Lila said what we wanted to say. Right guys?" Yumi asks.

"Right," Ulrich says with a nod.

Odd smirks, "Took the words right out of our mouths."

Jeremy nods and turns to the supercomputer. Aelita turns with him.

"Okay then… goodbye, Xana."

Jeremy pulls the handle. My vision starts to become blurry.

 _What…?_ I think in muted surprise, even my thoughts are slurred. _What's... happ-ening?_ I think.

"Lila…Aelita?! Someone catch them they're going to-" Yumi's voice becomes distant to my ears before my vision blackens out completely.

 **Sometime later**

 **Inside the factory**

Feeling something tightening around my arm, I wake up. My vision is blurry, and I see someone in a red sweat suit, taking my blood pressure.

"Jim is that you? What are you-" I say, starting to get up from a bed. My vision becomes hazier as I become dizzy again.

"Slow down, Lila," he replies in a surprisingly gentle tone. "You and Aelita fainted."

"Why… how are you here?" I ask, lying back and trying to let my vision readjust itself.

"I… followed you guys to the factory," he hesitantly admits before continuing in a surer tone. "And it's a good thing I did; I arrived in that room just as you fainted. The doors opened, and I caught you. Your friends managed to get Aelita. You would have had a concussion if I didn't catch you."

"Thanks… is Aelita awake?" I ask.

"She is," Jim replies.

"How did you get these beds here?"

"Belpois restarted that computer to bring your pulses back. He's explained things to me. After he did, I took the liberty of taking a cab back to campus," the gym teacher explains. "I grabbed the beds, and the blood pressure cuff then had another cab bring me near Ishiyama's house like she recommended. She told me it was the closest way I could get here, and I walked from there."

He unwraps the cuff on my arm, after checking my blood pressure and nods, "Your blood pressure is back to normal. You can go and see your friends."

Rolling down my jacket's sleeve, I nod and smile slightly.

"Thanks Jim."

 **Inside the lab**

The freight elevator's doors open, and I walk into the lab towards everyone gathered around Aelita and Jeremy.

"-To scan you," Jeremy finishes. He turns to me after noticing my entry.

"I was just saying to Aelita that once you were up we should get you two scanned."

"And that'll tell you what went wrong?" Yumi asks.

Jeremy nods, "Yes, at least I hope…"

 **In the scanner room**

Taking the middle scanner, I step in and Aelita takes the left scanner. The doors close, cutting off my view of the outside world.

 _"Starting the process now,"_ Jeremy informs. Closing my eyes, the scanner starts spinning and then stops. _"Okay… I'm finished. You two can come back up."_

The scanners open. Aelita and I look at each other with concern.

 **In the lab**

Jeremy scratches his head as he stares at lines upon lines of code.

Jim is with us and asks, "What did you find out?"

"It's complicated… but I'll start with Aelita. It seems there was a bug during the materialization."

"A bug?" Yumi asks. "That can't be too bad."

"Normally, yes, but… Aelita, did you feel anything when you were being materialized?" he asks, looking at her.

"Now that you mention it…. Just before you entered the code, I did feel like Xana was trying to hold me back," Aelita recalls.

"And that's the bug," Jeremy explains. "He created a virus, linking you and him."

"And that means?" Odd asks.

"It means, Odd, we can't turn the supercomputer off without killing Aelita," Ulrich guesses. "Right Jeremy?"

"That's right," he confirms.

Jim looks concerned, "What can you do?"

Jeremy starts typing on his computer, "I can try and create an antivirus that'll free Aelita from Xana."

"Can Aelita still deactivate towers?" I ask.

Jeremy nods, "Yes thankfully. Hopefully, the computer will finish the calculations by tomorrow morning. Lila… can we talk privately?"

Raising my eyebrow, I ask, "Can't you say whatever it is you want to tell me in front of everyone?"

"I can tell them later… but I need to tell you privately," he insists.

"Okay…" I reply in a puzzled tone.

 **Inside the freight elevator**

Jeremy and I take the elevator up to the factory level. The freight elevator doors open. Turning to Jeremy, I ask him,

"So, what is it you want to tell me, that you can't tell the others now?"

"Lila, did… did my future version of myself ever tell you the circumstances of your birth?" Jeremy asks hesitantly.

I shake my head, "No. Where are you going with this?"

"There's no easy way to tell you this, but…" Jeremy trails off, beginning to explain. He starts explaining my situation, his voice starts to fade out from my shock as he makes his complicated hypothesis. His voice then starts to fade back in.

"I'm sorry. I wish I knew how to explain it better. But… it's the truth," Jeremy says. My eyes widen, and I shake my head.

"You're wrong…"

"Lila, I checked and double checked the data. I even triple checked, before you came up from the scanners. I'm sorry… but the data isn't wrong. What it showed is right..."

"You're wrong!" I scream at the top of my lungs. This catches Jeremy off guard. I start running to the factory's exit.

"Lila, wait! Please!" he calls back to me, but I ignore him and continue to run.

 **The next day**

Waking up in my bed, I decide to stay in it and miss class. My phone starts ringing, and I ignore it and put my headphones on. Plugging them into my music player that Mary got me just a few weeks ago, I turn the music on to heavy metal.

 _Jeremy… you're absolutely wrong. No, you're dead wrong. If it's true… I can NEVER forgive my own father for not telling me the truth,_ I think.

Deciding to take a shower, I grab a towel and a fresh change of clothes. Walking in the hallway, Milly and Tamiya notice me. Glancing at their mouths, I can tell that they're trying to tell me something, but I'm in no mood to talk. Ignoring them, I continue to the girl's bathroom and head inside closing the door with a loud slam.

 **Afterwards**

Opening the door to my room, I close it behind me and toss my towel and old clothes onto the bed. Wearing my fresh clothes, I look to my desk and decide to go over to it. Opening the drawer, I take out the old-time travel book Mary gave me a while back. Opening it, I start reading from where I left off.

 **Later**

Flipping through the pages, I get to the last chapter. I read the title of the chapter.

"Multiverse theory/ Many worlds theory," I say. "Huh, what's this about?" asking no one in particular. Flipping the page, I start reading the chapter.

"The multiverse theory/ Many worlds theory was a theory, theorized by Bryce Seligman DeWitt. To explain this theory, I want you to think of a tree. Are you thinking about it? Okay good. Now imagine the tree branching out, creating different paths. Each branch is its own timeline. Imagine a timeline where you're rich… or imagine a timeline where there's no need for money. Think of the tree as the universe. While the different paths include different histories of the Earth… we are still under the same universe. Our current Earth history allows us to look back on what could have gone wrong. Imagine… imagine if the Germans won World War 2. Now imagine that history on a branch of that tree I mentioned. While that history is apart of that branch, their Earth is completely different. Germans won, and the allies defeated. All they know is destruction and death. That history allows them to have their Earth reach different heights. Different technologies… and even though their Earth is different, they still look upon the same universe as we look upon it now, because it is solely under one tree. Just a different branch. This is perhaps the best way to explain the multiverse theory, or many worlds theory, because despite the fact that there might be infinite Earths with infinite possibilities… we all share the same universe. When someone interferes with time, they're creating a different timeline from the original history of their Earth. The original history can never be changed. If they're the first-time travelers in existence then their "tree," hasn't branched out yet. By time traveling, they'll create a second branch, and this second branch would be called a second timeline. If someone interferes with time, one has the potential to do great good or great evil. One must tread carefully should time travel ever be possible…"

Closing the book, I take a breather.

 _This was interesting… that being said it seems that my timeline might still be out there. If it's part of a branch of a tree… then the branch shouldn't just snap off, not according to what I just read. But now I'm really stuck in this timeline until I free Mary…_ I think.

Taking the book, I place it in one drawer and then open another one. I take my diary, it's key and a pen from the drawer. I close it. Using my key, I unlock the diary and then begin to write in it.

 _Dear Diary… Aelita's materialization in this timeline was a success. Something… something went wrong at the end—something different that I wasn't prepared for. For some reason, Xana took Mary… and I have no idea what took her. It sounded… strange. To top it off, Jeremy told me something last night that makes me angry. I can't even write it without nearly breaking the pen. It's the reason why I ended up fainting with Aelita when the supercomputer was turned off. I still can't believe it..._

 _It frustrates me to think my father could have kept a huge secret like this from me. I mean… he raised me. He took care of me after my mom died… and seeing Jeremy with Aelita now, how can someone be so secretive in the future? It doesn't make sense! My father lied about my birth; he couldn't even tell me who the leader of the resistance was. I mean, come on, what's the big secret? It can't be someone close to me… it just wouldn't be possible. There was no one left but Jeremy._

 _And if there's a chance, a CHANCE my timeline is still out there somewhere… now I really am stuck in this one. I need to find out what took Mary and free her._ _From there… we'll have to defeat Xana and who knows…. maybe Mary might let me change the timeline? I know we originally planned to do that with the paradox… but all of our hypothesis's might have been wrong. Maybe, we can find a way to create a peaceful future for this timeline, after she's freed. That being said… it's strange to think my timeline might be out there still. If my timeline's future is still there, could Mary have known all along? No… no I don't believe she would lie to me like that. I… I just don't know. To be honest the multiverse theory sounds far-fetched. I know I arrived in the past… and yet I can't shake the feeling that this past is the not the same past, from the timeline I came from. So maybe there is a chance, I created a new branch like the author mentioned. Maybe I did create a second timeline, and I'm living in it now? But even if that's true... then why did I lose my memories when I first entered the timeline? Perhaps... the best reason I can think of is that the memory lost is a side effect of time traveling like my father mentioned before the time jump? A permanent one... I don't know..._

 _Ugh, I feel like my head is going around in circles sometimes… especially when it feels like I have no one to turn to now. That's the worst part of this… I'm truly alone now…_

While writing in my diary, I start hearing shouting from outside.

"What's going on?" I ask. Quickly getting out of my chair, I hop into my shoes and run out of my room.

 **Outside**

Looking around outside, the ground has been destroyed by something. Seeing a student running, I hear faint whirring and clicking movements and my eyes widen.

"No way… what's _that_ doing here?!" I exclaim. Looking at the Kankrelat, it notices me and then starts charging its laser. Looking around for some sort of weapon, I see a somewhat jagged rock from the destroyed ground.

The monster fires its laser and I roll to the side, grabbing the rock. Whipping it through the air at the eye of Xana, the rock hits dead-on and pierces the pseudo flesh of its body. The Kankrelat sparks before it falls over with a small explosion blowing off half its upper body, leaving it dead on its side.

 _Luckily, these monsters are the most fragile of the bunch. If these were Krabs I think we'd be in trouble…_ I think. Looking around the area, I see the destruction the Kankrelats have caused already.

 _I've got to help out my classmates!_ I think.

Looking around, I run to the forest to see if anyone is hiding out there.

 **Further in the woods**

Looking at two Kankrelats ahead of me, a younger kid cornered by them, I quickly kick them over in a single sweeping roundhouse, knocking them on their sides. It had been a while since I fought Xana's monsters for real, but my old instincts were still there. Stomping one of them for good measure, I quickly back off before it blows up, triggering a chain reaction and destroying the other since they were beside one another.

"Hey kid, are you alright?" I ask.

"Um – yeah," he nods. "I think I saw a few of them near the shed area. Stern and Ishiyama were there. Jim was fighting some of them too."

"He was? Thanks, I'll head that way," I nod.

 **Near the shed**

Running towards the supply shed, I pant heavily.

 _Old instincts or not, I'm still in a younger and untrained body. After this, I'm definitely going to start exercising seriously. I've been slacking since it's more peaceful here. Too bad all of that running on Lyoko doesn't help my body in the real world_ , I think.

I find a bunch of Kankrelats lying on the ground with small holes punched in them, deactivated from taking too many shots, and see one more aiming at a downed Jim with several laser burns. He's shakily holding up a nail gun with a fallen Kankrelat still buzzing electricity through the hole recently punched right through the eye of Xana.

"Hehe, it's time for you to head to the scrap heap…" he weakly chuckles, even from his prone position. "After all, I handled your little buddies, didn't I?"

"Hey, you stupid bug! It's me you want right?!" I yell at the monster to get its attention from Jim. It turns to me.

"Lila, what are you doing here?! Leave before it-" Jim starts to say but stops.

Ignoring Jim, I immediately rush the remaining monster, easily knocking it on its side and planting my foot on its body while it's legs kick futilely. Making sure that its laser shooter is faced away from me and Jim, I lean down.

"Xana if you're listening… I want Mary back!"

With that said, I crush its body before leaping to dodge the ensuing explosion. The small explosion sets off, and I smile. I get up.

Jim looks at me in stunned silence before he asks, "Lila… how did you…?"

"It's _very_ difficult to explain…" I mutter.

Looking ahead, the white wall of light starts heading from the horizon and I realize that Jim won't remember since he wasn't scanned in the scanners. It engulfs us all.

 **The previous day**

 **In Lila's room**

Waking up inside my room, I look at the empty chair desk and the copy of my father's laptop not open. Mary's still gone. Sighing, I get up to change into a fresh pair of clothes and head to Jeremy's room.

 **In Jeremy's room**

Odd, Ulrich, Yumi and I all stare at the monitor. Looking at Aelita, she seems rather upset. Kiwi is with us this time, as Odd had brought him to Jeremy's room. Kiwi is sleeping on Jeremy's bed.

"We're starting the re-materialization immediately," Jeremy says, and is about to grab the program disc, but Aelita stops him.

 _"Jeremy please… don't,"_ she requests.

Jeremy hesitates and begins saying, "But, Aelita, I-"

 _"I can still feel a link between Xana and me. I'm sure Lila does too."_

Jeremy looks to me and I nod; he looks back at Aelita.

Yumi places her hand on Jeremy's shoulder, "We can always materialize you for a couple of hours. That way you can come and visit us."

" _I'd like that. Until then, I think it's best I stay on Lyoko. Until you can find a way that will free both Lila and I_. _Perhaps some type of anti-virus,"_ Aelita says.

"There's one other thing," I chime in, making everyone look at me.

Odd speaks up first, "What is it?"

Yumi pulls her hand from Jeremy as she realizes it too, "We forgot about Jim!"

Kiwi wakes up from his sleep and barks.

"Aelita, we'll talk later okay?" Jeremy excuses.

 _"Okay, Jeremy,"_ Aelita answers and she logs off.

All of us run out of the room and I close the door behind us, leaving Kiwi inside.

 **Outside Jeremy's room**

 **On the boy's dorm floor**

We turn down the hall to see Jim walking towards us.

"Aha! I finally caught you! I think it's time you told me what your little secret is, and we're not going anywhere until you do!" Jim exclaims.

Odd shrugs innocently, "We were just studying."

"Studying my eye!" Jim barks back. "Do you really expect me to believe that? And Ishiyama, what's a day student doing inside the dorms at this time in the morning?"

"Uh, see, the thing is, Jim –" Yumi tries to explain and he then shakes his head.

The gym teacher crosses his arms, "I think Mr. Delmas should hear about this!"

"Jim," a voice calls out. Turning to the voice, we all look at Mr. Delmas who just opened the doors and is walking to us.

"What's going on here?" he asks. Mr. Delmas reaches us and looks at Jim, he then looks at us. "Well?"

"I finally caught them, sir! These children were up to no good!"

"No good? Again, Jim? Is this one of your stories about-" Mr. Delmas starts, and Jeremy speaks up.

"He's right sir. We were up to no good. We were planning to play a prank on Nicholas and Herb," he lies.

Odd nods, "Yeah, a good one, too."

"Honestly, sir, if Jim hadn't caught us we'd be late for class," I say.

"Yeah I mean pranks are one thing… but being late?" Ulrich adds. "That's more trouble than it's worth."

Mr. Delmas looks at all of us, bewildered by our "honesty." Looking at Jim, he clears his throat.

"Well… I suppose I can overlook this matter since you're being honest. Off to class now, children," Mr. Delmas says. Fixing his jacket, he proceeds to walk out of the dorm. After he's gone, we then look at Jim and smile.

"Thanks, kids. But why did you cover for me?" he asks.

Jeremy smiles, "Well, let's just say we think you'll do the same thing for us one day."

"Yeah. I mean we never get a chance to tell you, but we appreciate everything you've done for us," Ulrich says.

"You're great, Jimbo!" Odd exclaims, and the three boys start making their way out of the dorm.

Yumi gives him a small kiss on the cheek before adding, "You're a real hero!" She runs to the guys and Jim rubs his cheek in surprise.

"A hero, wow," he says shocked.

"You really are Jim," I smile at him before catching up with the others.

"Uh, thanks! Don't forget to tell your principal that!" he exclaims happily.

 **Later in Mrs. Hertz's class**

I _really wish I knew what took Mary… How can I get her back? Is there a chance I'll ever see her again? No, I know I'll see her again. I just wish I knew why Xana took her. Even IF the AI figured out I was a time traveler… there's no way he could access Mary's memories. Right? She must have had a lot of security measures built in by my father. So, whatever took her is going to have a hard time breaking through them,_ I think while idly staring at Mrs. Hertz's, who is writing on the blackboard.

 **After class**

 **In Lila's room**

Listening to the music on my music player, I hear a faint knock coming from the door. Powering it off, I get up from the bed and go to the door.

I grab the handle, "Who is it?"

"It's Jeremy, may I come in?" Jeremy asks.

Pulling the door handle down, I open it and allow Jeremy to come in. He enters the room, and I close the door. I sit on the bed with a defeated look, knowing that this conversation would have to happen at some point.

"Lila… I'm sorry," Jeremy says.

"You … shouldn't be," I say at length, shaking my head.

"But it's my fault; on a cosmic level at least. My future self should have told you the truth about your birth. Especially if he was like a parent to you and especially since he created Mary."

"There are just some truths, a person can't take," I say.

"It's okay. I've should have explained it better. I'll try and explain it better this time. Your brainwave patterns match Aelita's, both of yours being more uniform than normal. You always excelled in mathematics just like she does. I even found something inside of you that's radiating some sort of electronic frequency, like an advanced power source that Aelita might lack at this point because of the differences in the time period."

"I see… I'm sorry for my first reaction Jeremy… I shouldn't have yelled at you…" I trail off.

Jeremy nods, "Honestly Lila, it's a normal reaction… especially finding out that you're an artificial intelligence like Aelita? How else are you expected to react?"

 **And done! The next chapter will lead into season 2 of Code Lyoko. The story will continue as a whole, it will not be separated into parts. Lila's Journey will continue with a new chapter soon, that's a promise! We should be back no later than the 25** **th and will return with our regular updates!**

 **Author's note : All errors regarding Lila's year she traveled from (2043), has now been fixed!**

 **Don't forget to review! Please feel free to share your thoughts on that big twist! Did you hate it, like it? How shocked were you?**

 **LyokoWarrior1994**


	17. New Order

**This chapter was written by me and edited by Undeadmonkey8. Collaborated with AeroJester203.**

Author's note: I had to revise the opening to the prologue of our little fanfiction here. Jeremy's age has been revised to 24. Aelita's age is a bit… tricky. I won't discuss the details as to why, for those who have not seen the show before. But, for storytelling purposes Aelita is going to be a few months older than Jeremy. They'll be the same age, but Jeremy will be younger by a few months. I've also revised the year as to when Lila traveled from in the prologue and in the previous chapter. The new year she traveled from is 2043. Changing the years and ages for Jeremy and Aelita, will not in any way, affect the story. It'll help it honestly. Sorry for the long note, onward with the disclaimer!

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko, all copyrighting goes to Moonscoop.**

 **I do not own Mary, she is owned by AeroJester203. Cameron Jones is a new OC that will be joining our little fanfiction. He is owned by Undeadmonkey8 and will be acting as a love interest to Lila. Please, please check out Code: Cameron on Undeadmonkey8's profile. I can't stress enough, how good that story is!**

 **Enjoy the chapter!**

 _New Order_

 **Desert Sector**

 **POV Lila's**

Odd, Ulrich, Yumi along with Aelita, and I are flying over the Desert Sector on Lyoko, testing out the new vehicles that Jeremy has designed for us. Odd's vehicle consists of a purple hoverboard with whiskers on the front end of it, it's called the Overboard. Ulrich's vehicle is a mix between a motorcycle, and hover technology. Jeremy calls it the Overbike, and it has a mixture of green and brown in it. Yumi's vehicle is based on a scooter, with a wide area big enough to carry two people on it. Jeremy has recently developed vehicles for us to fight against Xana. He made me a broomstick since my Lyoko avatar is basically a witch. Flying on my broomstick, Lyoko passes beneath me and I think back on what Jeremy told me a few weeks ago.

 **Flashback**

 _"Can - you explain to me again, how this all works?" I ask, trying not to cry._

 _"I... I have no idea honestly. I just know that your mind is artificial because of the coding that I found in it. The coding causes the electronic frequency that the data analyzed. It's like a telegraph that's inside your mind if that makes sense."_

 _"Okay...I think I get it. But... why did you never detect it in the scanners?" I ask, confused._

 _"The same reason I never knew you and Mary were working together on Lyoko. I didn't do a deep scan of your brain, there was never a need to. I mean sure you had your fainting issue, but that stopped a while ago and happened before you were scanned the first time. If I thought the scanners affected all of you at all, I definitely would have checked each of your brains. I didn't need to because the others didn't experience any side effects from the transfers."_

" _Okay that makes sense too..." I trail off._

" _Yeah, and even if I did a deep scan of your brain at the time, it would have shown two beings. It would have shown Mary when you were fused with her, and whatever this artificial intelligence that's within you. I don't know what it is... it's really advanced. But it's dormant... and from what I can tell, it's been with you for a while now. Maybe even since you were born. The codes that I found in you which gives off the electronic frequency, shows no traces of Xana's code within you."_

" _Thank god… that would be a total nightmare. Ugh… just imagining having something else that's within me is really strange… I'm glad it's not Xana. Wouldn't even be possible honestly."_

" _Yeah. From what you've told all of us, Xana was active on Earth since he ruled your future. If there were traces of Xana's code in you, I would know. I've studied him for a while now and everything in my gut tells me this artificial intelligence just makes you, you: Lila Smith, human," Jeremy smiles._

" _Thanks Jeremy… that makes me feel a bit better," I smile slightly._

 **End of flashback**

 **POV Lila's**

 _"Lila, Lila watch out!"_ Jeremy exclaims, opening my eyes I realize I'm flying straight into a jagged rock. My broomstick hits the jagged rock, and I fall off of it. Odd zooms down with his Overboard, which is purring like a cat as he catches me in his arms. Odd zooms to the others who are back on the ground. He lets me go to the back of the Overboard, and I balance myself on his Overboard. The Overboard flies to the others. Reaching the others, he and I hop off.

"Are you alright Lila?" Aelita asks with concern.

"I'm fine, I guess I got distracted," I shrug.

"Well, all in all at least Odd caught you. Though, I did beat him earlier with our race. Thanks for that, by the way. Letting me win the race," Ulrich says.

"You did not Ulrich! I was ahead of you by a mile, and you know it!" Odd exclaims.

A weird sound interrupts their argument. We see two monsters approaching us. Looking at them, they look like...

 _No... those are... the Tarantulas?! Ugh... this must be when they first appear in the timeline. Giant spider like armed machines... made me deathly afraid of spiders in the future,_ I think.

"What sort of creatures are those?" Yumi asks.

"I have no idea, but I've never seen them on Lyoko before," Aelita replies.

 _"The data the supercomputer is showing is that they appear to have some pretty powerful lasers. Odd, since you still have your Overboard take Aelita to a tower that's nearby. We're going to bring her in."_

"Right, hop on Princess. Let's go," Odd gestures, giving Aelita a smile as he pulls her onto the Overboard and shoots off towards the tower.

The Tarantula's lift their legs, they start firing their lasers. The opening volley catches Yumi off guard, sending her back to Earth.

"Yumi!" Ulrich exclaims. Using his super speed, he charges at the Tarantula that shot Yumi. I start running to charge at the second Tarantula, and I take my staff out.

"Exardesco, Exardesco, Exardesco!" I exclaim. My amulet glowing slightly, I swing my staff, launching three fire bolts at the Tarantula. The Fire Bolts hit the Tarantula, but the Tarantula is unaffected by my attacks for some reason.

 _"Their life points aren't going to be easily depleted like other monsters. These monsters must be-"_ Jeremy starts talking, but is interrupted by Ulrich yelling as he jumps into the air and lands on the head of the Tarantula he's fighting. He stabs the Tarantula in the Xana sign, and jumps off. The Tarantula explodes, and Ulrich easily gets away from the explosion.

The Tarantula I attacked, turns and fires off its lasers at Ulrich, turning him into a cloud of devirtualized pixels.

 _"... are powerful. Lila do you think you can buy Aelita a few more seconds?"_

"Yeah," I reply, making a stance. Looking at the Tarantula, the Tarantula turns to me, charging it lasers.

"Exardesco! Exardesco!" I exclaim.

My amulet glowing, I swing my staff. I send two more fire bolts at the Tarantula. The Tarantula screeches in pain, but it's still able to lift its legs. Charging its lasers, the Tarantula sends a volley wave of lasers at me. I grunt as they knock me off of my feet, and Lyoko disappears.

 **In the scanner room**

Opening my eyes to the light of the scanner, the scanner opens, and I groan. Odd has been waiting for me. Yumi and Ulrich seem to have already gone up to the lab. Rubbing my neck, Odd offers his hand and I take it.

"Thanks," I say.

"You're welcome," he says.

 **In the lab**

Jeremy turns his chair to face us as we gather in the lab, and he places his hands under his chin.

"These new monsters Xana's created... I don't like them. They're too powerful," he says.

"Ulrich barely managed to defeat just one of these Tarantulas. Lila's attacks didn't even phase the other one! The Tarantulas are really tough," Odd says.

"Yeah, they weren't. These "Tarantulas" as you call it are going to give us trouble," I huff.

"Your aunt, what?" Yumi asks.

"Tarantulas. That's the new name, I'm giving our new friends. And Einstein, you're going to need to program the vehicles faster, for us to stand a chance against them," Odd says.

"I know," Jeremy nods, "I'm more worried that Xana found a way to increase his power. Lila... is there any chance Xana could be using Mary, as a way to increase it?" he asks, looking at me.

"No," I shake my head, "She has the ability to expel Xana from foreign objects. She's done so in the past, and she'll be able to hold out until we get her back. Once we find out whatever took her. As far as I know, there's no way Xana can be using her to increase his power."

"If Xana's getting powerful enough to create new monsters, I should head back to Lyoko. Just in case he activates a tower," Aelita says. We look at Aelita, and smile. Remembering, our time we've been spending with her these past few weeks. She's been staying at Yumi's. One day, Yumi and I had taken her for a shopping mall trip. We bought her a new outfit. A light long sleeved pink hoodie, which is over a dark purple jumper dress, and a light pink t-shirt. Her hoodie has two fuzzy pull strings, and she has pink knee boots. We also secretly bought her some things she will be needing...

"Who wants to tell her?" Jeremy says.

"Tell me what? What's going on?" Aelita asks.

"Go on, you do it," Ulrich insists.

"Yeah, we shouldn't keep it a secret," Yumi smiles.

"Keep what a secret? Can someone tell me what's going on?" Aelita asks.

"Over these past few weeks, I've spent all of my free time developing the vehicles and anti-viruses, for you and Lila. I've also developed a whole new program for locating the towers," Jeremy says.

"It's like a super scan," Odd adds in.

"And, this super scan has better accuracy and response time over the original one. Jeremy showed me how it works, it's pretty good," I compliment.

"Pin-point accuracy in fact. Which means..." Jeremy trails off, trying to let Aelita figure it out. Aelita makes the realization, she looks at us and smiles.

"I - I get to stay-" Aelita stammers. Yumi nods, walking up to her, she cups Aelita's hands.

"Here, with all us. We've already enrolled you into Kadic as a student. You'll be Lila's roommate. We're going with the story we made up the first time. You'll be Aelita Stones, adoptive sister to Lila," Yumi smiles.

"Jeremy - this - is fantastic!" Aelita exclaims happily.

Jeremy smiles and I do too.

 **Later**

 **In Lila's room**

Jim opens the door, showing Aelita my room. The room has been changed since preparing for Aelita's arrival. My single bed is now a bunk bed with a ladder to get to the top, which is my original bed. A second desk with draws has been put where my desk was. My desk has moved to the front of the window, but I still have enough space so that I can open the window when I want to. All of my belongings are in the desk, including the copy of my father's laptop. Looking at the suitcase I'm holding for Aelita, I smile slightly, happy that she's going to be my roommate.

"You'll be rooming with your sister, miss um..." Jim trails off nervously, and Aelita finishes it for him.

"Stones, Aelita stones. I'm from Canada," she replies smoothly.

"Stones? Like the rock group?" Jim asks.

"That's right," Aelita nods.

"Anyways, Miss Stones there are a few rules you must follow. Breakfast starts at seven AM, and dinner is at seven PM. No going upstairs to the boy's floor after lights out. No skipping class, no-" Jim starts to explain, but I interrupt him.

"Jim, I actually told Aelita about the rules on the way here. She'll be okay and she won't cause any trouble. Right Aelita?" I ask.

"Right," Aelita replies.

"One of your group members not causing trouble? Well, color me, impressed Smith. I'll leave the rest to you then," Jim says. Jeremy, Odd, and Ulrich arrive, they enter the room, and give a thumbs up to us.

"Aelita, I'm going to be taking the top bed and then you can take the bottom bed. If that's okay, of course," I say.

"Sure," Aelita nods, smiling.

 **Outside**

 **By the arches**

Gathering around Mrs. Hertz, she hands us the assignment for our class trip, which for some reason is a combination of both eight and ninth graders today. Looking down at the name, I seem to be paired up with a boy whose name is... Cameron Jones.

 _Is he new?_ I wonder.

"Hi," a voice says in front of me. Turning to the voice, I see a boy in front of me. He has dark brown hair - a bit scruffy at first glance, but looking at it carefully I notice it's maintained scruff, rather than bedhead. His bangs are just long enough to be casually swept behind an ear, which he does as he awaits my response. He is wearing a charcoal grey jacket that goes to his knees, a black t-shirt with the Subsonics logo, dark jeans, and dark boots. He has brown eyes, and can't be more than a few inches taller than Jeremy.

"Um... hi, nice Subsonics t-shirt," I compliment.

The boy looks at it. "Oh, this old thing? Thanks, it's nothing special though. I'm Cameron Jones, are you Lila Smith?"

"I am. I assume we're going to be working on the assignment together?"

"Yup. I've got the sketchpad and camera right here," Cameron replies. I see he is holding his camera in his other hand and his sketchpad underneath his right arm.

"I see you have your things."

"I do, yeah," I nod holding the camera and my own sketchpad.

"Awesome. So, rumor has it that blond kid is at the top of the class," Cameron says.

"Yes, he probably is. He's a friend of mine. My sister's in the class too."

"Oh cool, so you like the Subsonics huh?"

"They-they're awesome yeah," I stutter.

"How long have you been into them?"

"A – f-ew weeks," I reply, continuing to stutter. He seems to notice this.

"You okay?"

"Uh-huh," I nod, unable to utter a full proper word.

 _What's going on? Do I have feelings for this guy or something? He's cute, but it's not like I like him . . . is it?_ I think.

"Everyone quiet down, please. Now that you're with your partners, there are some things you should be aware of. First off, we have three new students in the class. Aelita Stones, adoptive sister to Lila Smith," Mrs. Hertz announces. Aelita gives a shy smile and nods to the class.

"For the ninth-graders, William Dunbar is also a new student and will be partnering with Ms. Ishiyama. Yumi can you raise your hand please?" she asks. Yumi does so, and William walks up to her. Looking at William, he has dark blue hair, is wearing a long red sleeved sweatshirt, a black t-shirt on top of it, blue jeans, and brown boots.

 _William Dunbar… why does that name sound familiar to me? Unless… no, he can't be THAT William Dunbar… the one who Xana made his right-hand man? Ugh… great… my father talked about how much of a hot head he was. And Aunt Yumi used to mention the numerous fights he and Uncle Ulrich got into when they were young. I hope I can at least make sure William doesn't get taken by Xana in this timeline. If I can do that… I can weaken Xana. Without William… perhaps we'll have a chance to defeat Xana sooner rather than later. Time will tell I guess,_ I think.

"And lastly, Cameron Jones will be joining us today - and I see you've already found Ms. Smith, wonderful," she finishes the introductions.

"This is going to be the only time I repeat the instructions of our assignment, so please pay attention. We'll be visiting the forest nearby and cataloging certain flowers, various plants, you'll be documenting them with your cameras and sketchbooks. And, on your sketchpad you'll be drawing your findings," she explains.

Some of our classmates' groan and I groan with them,

"Whelp, there goes half our grade…"

"Why, you don't draw well?" Cameron asks.

Shaking my head, I answer, "No not exactly. My best drawing is a stick figure."

 _Even though my future gave me all that free time… my drawing NEVER improved…_ I think.

"Well… lucky for you, I'm your partner. I just happen to draw during my free time. I've gotten pretty good at it."

"Good, maybe our grade won't be that terrible then," I smile.

Looking back at the front of the class, Mrs. Hertz is speaking with Milly and Tamiya,

"I've said enough is enough! This trip is for eight and ninth graders only. Milly, Tamiya, please let us move on with our day," Mrs. Hertz says, sighing.

"Ohh okay..." Milly groans in defeat, as she notices Cameron. She looks at Tamiya then me, for approval of what I assume is an interview. I shake my head at Tamiya, silently pleading her to tell Milly not to. She tells Milly something, and the two are on their way back to their room.

 **In the forest**

Cameron and I are sitting against a tree, which is providing us some shade. but not a lot. Most of the leaves have fallen off since it's January. It's gotten cooler, now that it's the beginning of January, but it can still be hot out sometimes, and today just happens to be one of the hot days. It's the perfect day to categorize flowers that are still around. Taking a photo of a rose, the photo is extracted from the camera. I show it to Cameron.

"Plants can be daunting but really, they're quite simple, compared to say, people," Cameron says, putting the finishing touches on a dandelion sketch.

"Here, try the rose, for example. Turn the picture upside down, like so, and then try from the bottom of the stem up." Despite telling me to do it, he's starting to draw the top of the rose already.

"Wow… that's pretty great," I compliment, my face starts to feel like it's burning.

 _Why is my face burning up?! What's wrong with me?!_ I think.

"You okay? Should we go somewhere a bit cooler? Maybe a bigger tree with leaves on them to get more than a spot of shade? It is rather warm out here," Cameron says, noticing the color of my face.

"Um, no thank you. I'm fine," I nod, trying to relax myself. I turn away from him.

 _I've never felt this way before… I wonder why I am I feeling this way? There's no way I have a crush on this guy... we just met!_ I think.

"How long have you and your adoptive sister been together?" Cameron asks, trying to change the subject. Looking at him, I say:

"For as long as I can remember honestly. She's been with me for a while now."

"Are you two close?" he asks.

"Yeah. We're also roommates here."

"Oh, that's cool!" Cameron exclaims, "I was thinking about rooming here at Kadic. But, the dorms are expensive, and my parents don't want me to cause any trouble at this school. Considering, what happened at the last one," he chuckles to himself lightly.

"What happened?" I ask.

"Well….Okay since we're lab partners and all, I can tell you. I'm into robotics and let's say, hypothetically, I built this robot in the shape of a wasp."

"Okay…"

"And let's say - again, hypothetically - that this wasp robot of mine just happened to have made its way into a teacher's room, who was substituting that day."

I giggle a little, "You got it to do that? How did she react?"

"Ah . . ." he rubs the back of his head, "with a cricket bat. Smashed the poor thing into bits, and she told the principal the same day. I was expelled, parents weren't happy, so they decided to let me study abroad."

"You speak French very well," I compliment.

"Thanks," Cameron says. He takes another photo of a flower nearby. We continue doing this for a while, but then my phone starts ringing, and I answer it.

 _"It's Odd. We think Aelita may have gotten lost. Can, you get away from your boyfriend a little, and meet with us at the crossroads?"_

"Odd... you're going to get it, when I see you," I say, threatening him. He laughs nervously on the phone, then hangs up. I stand up.

"Um... I hate to do this, but my sister's gotten lost. Do you mind covering for me?" I ask.

"I don't mind at all. Want me to help find her?"

I shake my head.

"Thanks, but I have a feeling I know where she is. I'm just going to go and make sure she's okay."

"Okay, if Mrs. Hertz asks, I'll cover for you," Cameron says, and smiles.

"Thanks," I smile, and I start running to the Hermitage.

 _If I know Aelita… she's going to find herself at the Hermitage. One thing I remember from my future timeline is that my father told me stories of when my mother had dreams that lead her to Grandpa S_ _chaeffer's_ _house,_ I think.

 **At the Hermitage**

Reaching the hermitage's main gate, I see that the gate has been opened. Going into the yard, I close the gate. I rush into the yard and looking around, I notice my broken pieces of the time machine are no longer on the ground.

 _So bizarre... my time machine parts have disappeared... I hope no one took them. Though… who could have? Maybe Mary did at some point? There's no way they disappeared because of any paradox… especially since the many worlds theory is the best theory I have. Nothing from my original history can be erased, so someone who knew I was here must have taken them away. Once I find Mary, I'll have to ask her just to be sure,_ I think.

Closing the gate, I start running up the stairs.

 **Inside the Hermitage**

After carefully ascending the rickety steps, I open the door. I walk inside the Hermitage, and I close the door carefully.

"Aelita? Are you here?" I call out.

"Lila!" Aelita exclaims, she then screams. Rushing down the stairs, and into the corridor I see Aelita fainting from something dark. I rush over to her and catch her in time. Hearing a strange noise, something starts to cover me in darkness, my vision starts to become heavy, and my eyes start rolling back. Aelita and I collapse on the ground, next to each other.

 **Sometime later**

"Lila! Lila!" I hear a voice shout, my eyes starting to open seeing Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi running to me and Aelita.

"Don't - trap," I utter, my vision now fully back to normal.

Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi run to us. Yumi helps me up, and Ulrich helps Aelita up.

"What did you say Lila?" Odd asks.

"Xana's going to-" Aelita starts to answer for me, as a door suddenly starts to close on us. Odd gets in between the door, holding it with his legs, he struggles to keep it open.

"You two go first, hurry!" Yumi exclaims. Aelita nods and starts crawling under Odd. She crawls out, and I follow her next. Crawling under Odd's legs, Aelita offers her hand and I take it. I get up. Yumi starts to crawl under Odd's legs, but Odd is starting to lose control of the door. Aelita and I barely manage to grab Odd in time, and the door fully closes.

Looking at the thermometer on the side to the door, the heat levels are starting to rise.

"You'll be boiled if we can't get you out of there!" Odd exclaims. Aelita, Odd, and I try to budge the front of the door open. Ulrich and Yumi, continue to try and budge the door open, from their side.

"It's not working, just hurry and deactivate the tower! That's the only way!" Ulrich exclaims.

"But-" I start to say, and Yumi speaks up

"We have faith in you guys!"

Nodding, Odd, Aelita and I start walking back upstairs. We hear a noise of something growing closer to us.

"Hang on," Odd says as we see a desk sliding towards us. I grab Aelita, getting us out of harm's way. Odd uses his hands to somersault onto the desk, and he uses the desk as a spring pommel horse, to jump off of the desk. He lands on the floor safely. The desk crashes into the door, giving us a way out of the house. The dust clears up, revealing a miraculous uninjured Kiwi, who wags his tail happily, despite being surrounded by broken pieces of wood.

"Kiwi," Odd smiles.

 **Outside the Hermitage**

Odd lets Kiwi jump into his arms. Aelita starts to gasp, looking at something near the bushes. Looking at it, I see the old door that leads to a secret entrance to the factory.

 _If I'm not mistaken I think my father use to tell me that there was a shortcut from the Hermitage to the factory. That must be it, it's too bad the Hermitage doesn't exist anymore in my timeline. Xana blew that up too,_ I think.

"Guys... there's a passageway over there. I - I believe it's going to lead us to the sewers," Aelita says.

"This isn't a time for jokes Aelita," Odd says, not believing her.

"I'm not joking Odd, I'm sure," Aelita nods.

"Huh?" Odd asks.

"How do you know?" Odd asks.

"Something tells me she has a good hunch. Right Aelita?" I ask.

Aelita nods, and smiles. "Right."

 **Inside the lab**

Reaching the lab, the freight elevators' doors open. Jeremy stops tapping his finger nervously and sighs in relief.

"You guys had me worried!" Jeremy exclaims. "But where are Ulrich and Yumi?" he asks, noticing they're not here.

"There's no time to explain Einstein. Ulrich and Yumi are in trouble," Odd informs.

"Okay, head for the scanners. I'll start the process."

Kiwi hops out of Odd's arms and runs to Jeremy, laying down next to him at the side of his chair.

 **In the scanner room**

Odd steps into the middle scanner, Aelita takes the left scanner, and I take the scanner on the right. We step in.

 _"Transfer: Aelita, Transfer: Odd, Transfer: Lila."_

The scanners close.

Closing my eyes, the scanner starts spinning.

 _"Scanner: Aelita, Scanner: Odd, Scanner: Lila."_

The scanners continue to spin, and starts humming.

 _"Virtualization!"_

Bright light envelopes me, billowing my hair and time machine necklace. I'm virtualized to Lyoko.

 **Ice Sector**

Odd and I land perfectly in the Ice Sector. Aelita lands perfectly, and at the same time, our vehicles are materialized.

 _"Aelita, the Overwing is for you."_

"All aboard!" Odd exclaims, jumping onto his Overboard. I get onto my broom, and Aelita steps onto the Overwing. We start to fly our vehicles, down an icy path. The tower is coming into view.

"We can see the tower!" I exclaim.

 _"Be careful, there are two Tarantulas guarding it. Lila, keep in mind you still have a limit to your fire bolts. If you need to, you can use that fire blast with your sword. But it'll cost you a lot of life points."_

"I know, thanks," I say and fly our vehicles faster.

Reaching an ice pillar, Odd, Aelita, and I stop our vehicles.

"Those creatures are incredibly powerful. Without Mary... I no longer have access to the spells she used to initiate when we were fused on Lyoko. I can try to use a fire blast from my sword, but it's going to take time. Time, we don't have..." I say, trailing off.

"With two of them, Lila and I will never make it. What are we going to do?" Odd asks.

"Maybe I can lure one of them away," Aelita winks.

"Oh..." Odd and I nod.

 _"Aelita, what are you planning exactly?"_

"She's going to steal the show," Odd replies.

Odd, and I take our vehicles in a different direction than Aelita. Aelita manages to lure away one of the Tarantulas. Taking out my staff I start chanting in Latin, getting the remaining Tarantula's attention. Cocking his paw, Odd readies his laser arrows. Lifting its arms, it starts to fire at Odd and I. My amulet suddenly starts glow black.

"Woah, what's that thing doing?" Odd asks, lowering his paw.

 _"Odd, Lila's somehow has activated a new spell! Get out of there and go help Aelita!"_ Odd runs away as he goes to the ice pillar, and gets his Overboard. He flies off.

 _"Lila stop that spel-"_ Jeremy tries to say, but it's too late. The world starts to envelop around me and the Tarantula, everything becomes gray. Hopping off my broom I ask,

"Jeremy what's going-" but then, I notice the Tarantula. Its lasers went off and somehow stopped in mid-motion.

 _Woah... did I do this? What sort of spell is this?_ I think.

Looking at my amulet I notice it's still glowing black, but the glow is starting to fade. Taking out my sword, I decide to take advantage of the situation. I run at the Tarantula, sliding underneath the lasers. I leap into the air. Landing on the Tarantula's body, I stab my sword through the Xana sign. I jump off of the Tarantula and back up a few feet. The glow from my amulet fades, and the world returns to normal. The lasers that were in mid-motion hit an ice boulder, and the Tarantula explodes.

 _"Lila... what just happened? The supercomputer rendered your virtual incarnation! You darkened the area you were in, and we lost contact! What happened? It was like some sort of blackout!"_

"I... I defeated the Tarantula," I answer, sheathing my sword. "And… blackout, it has a nice ring to it. That's what I'll name the spell."

 _"Listen, Aelita's coming your way. But, blackout cost you fifty life points! Odd defeated the Tarantula that Aelita lured away, and another one appeared after that, and devirutalized him!"_

Hearing feet coming my way, I turn ahead seeing Aelita running with the Tarantula behind her in pursuit.

"Can you take this one out?! We're running out of time!" Aelita exclaims.

I nod.

 _Broomstick, go to Aelita and fly her to the tower,_ I command internally, knowing this is going to cost me at least 30 life points, as this is the first time I'm commanding a vehicle with my magic. The broomstick flies past me, as it flies to Aelita. Aelita's eyes widen and she rolls to the side. The broomstick follows her. It stops, and Aelita carefully gets on the broom.

"Lila how do I make this broom-" Aelita starts to ask, just as my broom starts to fly again. I start running to the Tarantula and it starts charging its laser. I hear Aelita screaming from the broomstick flying so fast, and she zooms by me.

"Ignesco!" I exclaim.

The Tarantula fires its laser at me, and I swing my sword at it. The flames, which aren't fully charged up, hit the Tarantula causing it to catch on fire, it screeches. My body starts devirtualizing.

 _I used up all of my life points! Ugh… these magic spells really can the worst!_ I think. As I devirtualize, the Tarantula's laser hits me, finishing me off for good measure, and my body flies into the air, turning into pixels.

 **In the scanner room**

Waking up in the scanner, the scanner's doors open. Odd is still in the scanner room. He looks at me.

"Those things are really tough…" I trail off.

"We'll get them next time," he says, giving a reassuring thumbs up.

Jeremy exclaims:

 _"Return to the past…now!"_

A big white bubble appears and engulfs everything, sending us back in time.

 **Back in the forest**

Opening my eyes, I realize I'm back with Cameron as he sits against the tree. He takes a photo of a flower nearby.

"Here, try the rose, for example. Turn the picture upside down, like so, and then try from the bottom of the stem up." Cameron says, trying to reassure me. Sitting down on the ground, I get my camera. I start taking pictures from the flowers I knew were around, and the rose I drew the first time. Each picture is extracted and I put them on the ground in a row. I start drawing the flowers, starting with the rose. I finish the drawing, then move onto the other flowers. Finishing them, I realize they're a bit better than my usual drawings. Piling the extracted pictures, I look at Cameron, and hold up my sketchpad showing the rose first.

"How's this?" I ask. Cameron turns his head and looks at the sketchpad. After he does, I flip each page to show him the other drawings. He nods.

"Wow… not bad, not bad. Needs improvement but still… good enough to get a decent grade," Cameron says honestly.

"Gee thanks," I huff, putting the sketchpad down.

"Ha ha sorry. But I'll tell you this: you're pretty creative. Reminds me of the time of when I got expelled from school," Cameron says.

"You did, really?" I ask, despite knowing his answer.

"Yup. I'm into robotics, and let's say, hypothetically," Cameron starts to retell the story of how he got expelled, and I can't help but smile at him.

 **Later**

 **After the field trip**

Mrs. Hertz gives Aelita and Jeremy perfect grades, while she fails Sissi, Herb, and Nicholas for cheating and using a flower shop. William and Yumi, seem to be talking, they look happy about their grades. Ulrich looks at them, a bit jealous of William.

 _I think I understand why Uncle Ulrich was so jealous of him when they were young. He really doesn't like William,_ I think.

"Here's what I'd like to know," Odd says, speaking up.

"Yes Odd?" Jeremy asks.

"How come you didn't meet us at the crossroads Lila?" he asks me.

"See… when I first "arrived," here in France I visited the Hermitage. It was the only safe place I knew that would allow me to have some privacy," I explain.

"Okay… that makes sense. And, Aelita how did you know about that secret passageway?" Odd asks.

Catching Aelita's eyes flickering, she rubs her temples then stops.

"I'm not sure… it's as if I've been there before," Aelita answers.

"Well, that can't be possible. You were born on Lyoko after all," Ulrich says, looking at us now.

Yumi walks up to us and seems to have heard the conversation.

"It's safe to say, it's one more mystery for us to solve. Though… Lila, I can tell it's not a mystery that you like that new guy Cameron, is it?"

"I… I do not!" I exclaim, feeling my cheeks blushing from embarrassment as the others can't help but laugh.

 _Aelita... I wish I can tell you that you have lived here before. That you really are human. But I can't... and these are the secrets you're going to have to learn on your own..._ I think.

And Done! Next update will be July 5th!

Author's Note: Thank you Undeadmonkey8 for letting me use Cameron as Lila's love interest. For those of you following Code: Cameron, you may have noticed that there were a few nods to Undead's fanfiction. Lila's new spell is based off a power from Code: Cameron. I do not own this power, but I have been given permission by Undeadmonkey8 for allowing me to use it as a spell in this fanfiction. I can't wait to see what Lila's and Cameron's friendship is going to turn out like! Will Lila and Cameron end up getting together? Who knows, only time will tell! I sincerely hope for nothing but the best for them! And for those of you wondering if this fanfiction will turn into a love story, I can promise you that it's not going to turn into a gushy love story! It's still going to focus on Lila, and her challenges that she will be facing! One of these challenges just happens to be love :)

 **Don't forget to review!**

 **LyokoWarrior1994**


	18. Uncharted Territory

**This chapter was written by me and edited by AwesomeFanFictionAuthor.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko, all copyrighting goes to MoonScoop.**

 **I only own my OC. Cameron is owned by Undeadmonkey8. Mary is owned by AeroJester203.**

 **Enjoy the chapter!**

 _Uncharted Territory_

 **In Lila and Aelita's room**

 **POV Lila's**

I hear a gasp in my sleep, and my eyes flutter open.

 _What's going on? That gasp, it was… Aelita?_ I think. I get my wits about me and climb down the ladder and go to her bed to check on her. She's still asleep, it looks like, and she starts screaming suddenly. I gently shake her awake.

"Aelita, Aelita relax. You're having a nightmare," Her eyes start to open, and she rubs her eyes. Blinking twice, she slowly starts to sit up. Grabbing my chair from my desk, I pull my chair up to her and sit down.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I - I was in the woods. And... I was being chased by a wolf, except I was some sort of small elf?" Aelita asks, unsure of her nightmare.

"Well... you are starting a new life here Aelita. Maybe you're just scared of the possibilities... and those possibilities are the wolf? That's why, as the small elf, you're running away from those possibilities?" I suggest.

 _I have to give her a reasonable explanation of these nightmares. My father used to tell me she had them a lot. He was never entirely sure why she had these nightmares. As far as I know, my father did mention Aelita had a toy elf named Mister Puck. I even played with him as a kid whenever I felt lonely, on the days my father was too busy dealing with Xana. I assumed it was a regular doll... but perhaps this elf in her nightmare, is the same one I used to play with? If so, Aelita will probably end up finding the same doll again in time. My father didn't tell too much about Mister Puck, but he did say my mother always had a special connection to it. So, maybe, it's in the Hermitage, since of course, that was her home. There's no way of knowing until she decides to look for it, but that could be what my father meant by having a special connection to it. I'll find out in time, I know I will,_ I think.

Aelita nods.

"We all have nightmares when we want to try something new or experience something new. Like take flying, for example, some people are terrified of flying but they do it. They'll be scared. I'm not sure if they'll have nightmares on the plane, but it's probably happened. And... I've had a few of them ever since I lost Mary."

"When I was living on Lyoko, there were days when I spent a lot of time looking up different things about the world. Flying does sound terrifying... and you have?" Aelita asks. I nod.

"I have… I see her, and I keep trying to reach for her, and just as I touch her she vanishes. It's almost as if my mind is teasing me with the possibility of finding her and bringing her back."

"But we will find her. Once we find out what took her; I know we'll rescue her," Aelita says, trying to reassure me with a smile.

"Thanks. Do you want to take a shower? They're relaxing," I say.

"Sure. That's the thing where water comes out of it, right?" Aelita asks.

"Yeah, hot and cold water. So, try not to turn it up too much, or turn it down too much. The perfect temperature matters for a successful shower," I explain.

"I think I understand, thanks for the advice. Say, where are the showers on this floor?" Aelita asks.

"I'll show you, come on, grab a towel," I reply. Going to our shared opened closet, I look at it.

I'm rather happy we went shopping during the weeks before Aelita became my roommate. The shopping trip at the mall was eventful, and I even found a lot of close looks alike shirts, that looks pretty close to my original shirt my father packed me in the suitcase. Unfortunately, I still haven't found a replica of my father's pink magenta leather jacket he prepared for me or anything close that could look like it. So, the day Yumi and I brought Aelita to the mall, I made sure to buy multiple look-alike t-shirts, blue jeans, and even found a few different shoes should I decide to wear the different ones. I still have access to a debit card that Mary set up a while back, which is accessed to the money Mary won from the first lotto ticket. There are still two more lotto numbers I can use if I ever need to. Thinking back on the shopping trip to the mall, it also reminds me of the time when Mary and I went shopping, shortly before I met Jeremy for the first time.

 _It's crazy to think how much has happened. It's only been a little over a year, and Aelita is now my roommate. She's acting as my sister, and she's making it less lonesome since Mary is no longer with me. I hope I find her soon…_ I think.

Grabbing the towels, soap, shampoo, and change of clothes along with my one of a kind pink magenta leather jacket. Aelita grabs her things and we head to the bathroom.

 **In the courtyard**

After showering and getting dressed, Aelita and I meet the boys outside in the courtyard. There are a lot of other students outside, but they're talking to their friends too.

"Do you remember that old house in the woods?" Jeremy asks me.

"You mean the Hermitage?" I ask.

"I don't like that place... it scares me," Aelita replies, crossing her arms in a little self-comforting hug.

"Well, now it's just a regular house Aelita. And, after a lot of hacking, I found an old deed that belongs to the house and compared it to a signature of a teacher, that I found in the school's records office this morning. They're the same. The deed to the house belonged to a Mr. Franz Hopper. Who just happens to have the same name, as the teacher who taught here a long time ago," Jeremy explains.

"So, you're thinking they could have been the same person?" Odd asks.

"Yeah I do, Odd. And it _would_ explain why he has a passageway that leads to the lab," Jeremy answers.

 _Lila! Please! There's not much time! I need you to come to Lyoko!_ I hear Mary's voice in my mind. Groaning, I let go of my bag and drop it to the ground.

 _My head… my head feels like it's burning,_ I think. I rub my temples, trying to relieve it.

"What's wrong, Lila?" Aelita asks.

"There's - there's this voice," I reply.

"A voice?" Ulrich asks. "Saying what?"

"It's... I'm not sure how to explain it. But I think it's Mary's voice… She's saying to come to Lyoko," I explain.

"Could be one of Xana's tricks," Ulrich surmises.

"Strong possibility. What do you say about checking out the Hermitage again? Maybe the voice will go away if you're busy," Jeremy suggests.

"Aelita, do you want to come with us?" he asks.

"I think I'm going to stay here Jeremy," Aelita replies.

"Same," I nod, the headache fading.

"Okay, well, we'll let you know what we find," Jeremy says. He, Ulrich, and Odd head off to the Hermitage. I pick up my bag and look at Aelita.

"Let's grab some lunch, I might just be hungry," I tell her.

"Okay," Aelita smiles.

 **In the cafeteria**

We get in line to get our lunch. The line is sort of long, so my eyes wander to the rest of the cafeteria. I notice Yumi is sitting next to William, and Sissi is talking to Cameron in the back of the cafeteria. He's sitting alone at a table, trying his best to ignore Sissi. We finally get to the front of the line and get our food.

"Come on," I say. Aelita follows me to where Cameron is sitting.

"For the last time, I don't want to go out with you. Leave me alone," Cameron says.

"But - But," Sissi stammers, "Why not?"

"Simple: I don't want to," Cameron answers. Sissi turns beat red and walks away without talking to us.

"Mind if we sit here?" I ask.

"Sure," Cameron replies. Aelita and I take two seats in front of Cameron.

"Sorry about her. She's the principal's daughter, so she thinks everyone will be into her because she's "popular"," I explain.

"Eh, no biggie, I've dealt with worse. So, I take it you're Aelita?" Cameron asks.

"I am," Aelita nods, "You're Cameron, right?"

"I am, haha. So, how does it feel to be in a different country?"

"Well, Canada was very uh... small, compared to France," Aelita answers, I take a bite out of my croissant.

 _Lila please, go to the edge of the desert sector on Lyoko!_ hearing Mary's voice inside my mind.

I choke a bit on the croissant from hearing Mary's voice in my head again. Cameron and Aelita look at me with concern. I quickly reach for my water and drink some, freeing the bite of croissant that got lodged in my throat. I put the glass of water down on the table.

"You okay?" Cameron asks.

"Sort of. Um Aelita, remember what I said earlier?"

Aelita nods, "I do."

"We need to go; it's getting worse," I explain. The two of us get up. It's a little sudden, so I look at Cameron.

"Cameron I'm really sorry, but we're going to have to leave. Something's come up. I'm not feeling very well today."

"Everything okay?" Cameron asks.

"Yeah just a headache," I lie.

"Okay… well feel better," he smiles.

"Thanks," I smile back at him. Aelita and I leave the table. We go to get rid of our tray of food and then head to the lab.

 **In the lab**

Aelita sits on Jeremy's chair and starts typing on the keyboard.

"We only have a minute, let's head downstairs via the ladder shoot," Aelita says.

"Right... I just hope this isn't a trap," I say.

"There's only one way to find out," Aelita replies.

 **Lyoko's Desert sector**

Aelita and I land in the Desert Sector. We start running and make our way to the edge of the sector.

 _When you're at the edge of the sector, wait a few seconds. I'm not sure how I have a telepathic link with you, but I diverted Xana's monsters. You shouldn't have trouble getting to the edge of the sector,_ Mary's voice says.

 _Thanks, Mary_ , I think, but she doesn't respond. "Of course… she can't respond."

"What did she say?" Aelita asks.

"Mary said there were monsters near our position. I'm not sure how… but whatever she did, she somehow diverted them. Maybe she's using some sort of distraction? Either way, we shouldn't have trouble the rest of the way."

"That's good... say, thanks for being there with me today," Aelita says and we continue running.

"You're welcome. You're my roommate, I didn't want you to be alone on your first day. I know how scary the world can seem, especially since you're new to it."

"Showering is rather nice, I suppose. Sissi seems to be a bit mean though."

"She changes in the future you know," I say. "I knew her personally because she ran Kadic. I was there only for a short while when I was a kid, but she was the nicest person there."

"Wow," Aelita says surprised, she then asks:

"You still went to school with Xana in control of everything?"

"I did, yeah... my parents brought me into Kadic when I was ten, you see, before the war really escalated. I can tell you I felt scared a lot of times. Even more so after Kadic was shut down. Being scared is a normal reaction. Especially feeling scared from nightmares, I'd be more concerned if you weren't scared," I tell her, and she nods. Getting closer to the edge, Aelita asks:

"Um... I know you've mentioned you didn't know us personally, but did you know anything about us?" she asks.

"No... sorry I don't. I only knew Sissi up until a certain age. Then… it was just Jeremy after my parents brought me to him before the war really started to escalate..." I lie, trailing off.

Reaching what appears to be the edge of the sector, we look out to the digital sea.

"Oh... sorry. Um, I think we've reached the edge. Now what?" As if on cue, a weird white Transport Orb with a blue Xana sign appears from seemingly nowhere. Before either of us can react, it opens and scoops us up.

 **In the arena room**

The Transport Orb drops us in a room. The floor and ceiling are spinning. Looking at the ceiling, this room seems to be some sort of arena room.

 _So, this is Sector Five… huh. Sector Five is different from Lyoko… if I remember correctly I think it can act like a maze with different corridors and different rooms, every time you go here. At least from what my father mentioned it was like, apart from that… seeing it now it's really strange,_ I think.

"What kind of sector is this? I've never seen it before," Aelita says.

"Yeah, and the room spinning is definitely strange. Odd's probably not going to like this," I say, trying to lighten the situation.

The room starts slowing down and the floor comes to halt, lining up with a door. The door opens.

"Where to now?" Aelita asks.

 _Go through the door, take a right on the first corridor, and a left on the second. There will be a room safe for us to talk, I managed to slip away from Xana. But he'll start to notice I'm gone, and there are things we need to talk about it_ , Mary requests.

"Right!" I exclaim and start running.

"Lila, wait up!" Aelita exclaims from behind, running to catch up.

 **Outside an empty room**

Aelita and I continue to run down the first corridor, and down to the next corridor. Approaching the room, I take my staff out. We walk inside.

 **Inside the empty room**

"Just in case it's a trap," I say, gripping my staff ready, trying not to get my hopes up. Aelita and I walk cautiously further in the room. My eyes widen… there… standing before me… is a hologram of Mary.

"Lila there's not much time...I assume you know you the truth by now?" Mary asks.

I grit my teeth slightly, "You- you knew?" sheathing my staff.

"I did, and I'm sorry. Your father told me the first day I was created."

"Her father? She said Jeremy created you?" Aelita asks.

"Lila, you told them the truth?" Mary asks, shocked.

"Some of it... not _all_ of it," I sigh,

"Xana is using every bit of his power to find me and... the link you have with Xana?"

"Yes, Mary?"

"I placed that link within you."

My eyes widen,

"You... you did what?"

Mary shakes her head, "I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have. But, when Xana stole me from you, I made sure to set a link between the three of us," she explains.

"You mean all four of us, right?" Aelita asks.

"No... I'm sorry. Your link is part of the original timeline. It's a separate link on its own that's connecting you and Xana. You'll find the answer to unlink the two of you in time, I promise."

"Mary I-" Four spherical orbs with the eye of Xana zoom into the room. My eyes widen, realizing they're the same ones from my future. The Xana Bots. They fire a laser at Mary's hologram and she disappears.

"Bad move, Xana!" I yell and start chanting in Latin.

"Exardeso, Exardesco, Exardesco!" I exclaim. Taking out my staff, I swing it. Three of my Fire Bolts fly across the room.

Zooming around throughout the entire room, they dodge my attacks. The Xana Bots start firing their lasers at us. Aelita and I dodge them one by one.

They suddenly stop. I hear a strange noise, and gasp as a Giant Jellyfish with long clear tentacles enters the room.

 **Flashback**

 **Forest Sector**

 _I start hearing a strange noise, I ready myself for an attack. Something grabs me and lifts me into the air, my eyes start to become heavy._

 **End of flashback**

"That's - that's the thing that took Mary from me!" I exclaim, unsheathing my sword.

Getting ready to attack, my amulet starts to glow Orange for some reason. I start running rather quickly, leaving a trail of Orange aura behind me, similar to Ulrich's super speed. I jump in the air and swing my sword at the Giant Jellyfish, but the Giant Jellyfish launches its tentacles at me. The tentacles hit me,and my sword falls out of my hands, and to the floor. The Giant Jellyfish puts its tentacles on my head, and I gasp. My eyes become heavy, they start closing and everything disappears.

 **Somewhere**

 _"Lila! There's not much time... I'm sorry but the hologram you talked to was a fake. It was all a trap by Xana!"_ Mary exclaims.

I laugh lightly, _"I knew it. You wouldn't have been so careless as to tell Aelita that my father created you. Xana divulged that information to her so that I'll be forced to tell everyone the full truth. He probably thinks it's going to split the group apart somehow."_

 _"I'm sorry... I tried to warn you. The first time I told you to come to Lyoko was me. But after that... Xana caught onto me, and manipulated my voice and image to lure you to Sector Five. He's starting to learn what I know about our future. He's accessing my memories… somehow breaking through my advanced security systems one step at a time. He still needs to go through multiple firewalls to obtain everything I know. And… I wanted to tell you the truth about your link, too..."_

I shake my head. _"I understand... but why didn't you tell me I was an artificial intelligence?"_

 _"Your father forbade it, Lila. It was to protect you... your mother was human, of course, but the two of them... I'm not sure why, but they could never have a child. I know she died shortly after you were born. Some sort of illness took her. But before that, your father... he created a child... you. The only thing I know about your creation was that you were born in Sector Five. You may have a connection to this sector in the present. If you do have one, I'm not sure what your connection will be… and the most important thing is that you're human but-"_ Mary starts to ramble on, but I interrupt her.

 _"I see... an illness took my mother... I didn't know that. I guess in the end... whatever happened, happened. Right?"_

Mary nods, she pauses for a few seconds.

 _"I think we're running out of time,"_ Mary says. Looking at myself, I notice I'm beginning to fade.

 _"But… Mary, I still have more questions. Did you get rid of the doors to the -"_ I start to say, but my body completely vanishes, before I can finish asking my question.

 **End**

I wake up, gasping. The others are with us now. Ulrich blocks the lasers from the Xana bots, and Yumi helps me up. I notice Odd helping Aelita up, the Giant Jellyfish must have attacked her too. Looking around, I notice that the Giant Jellyfish is no longer in the room.

The room starts to change, the floor moves up and down in pieces, like blocks. As they move, they make a strange creaking sound.

"I don't like the sound of that!" Ulrich exclaims.

 _"Get out of there! Hurry!"_ Jeremy exclaims.

Ulrich stops blocking the lasers, sheathing his Katana blade. Leaving my sword on the floor since it'll just be brought back on my next trip to Lyoko, we start running back to the main room where we arrived. The corridor starts to close in on us as we're running. Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, and Aelita all make it out of the corridor. I make it, but just barely. The entryway closes.

 **Arena room**

Aelita's knees give in, as do mine. We pant heavily, trying to catch our breath. Thankfully, the main arena room isn't collapsing in on us.

" _Just in time!"_

"Now what?" Ulrich asks.

" _I'm going to re-enter that code we used. Scipio."_

"We've got your way out of here you two," Odd says. "Lila, what happened back there? You were unconscious for a bit when we found you."

Aelita and I get up. Looking up, The Transport Orb hovers down and opens. Looking at Odd, I tell him:

"I... I was talking to the real Mary. Telepathically…"

It scoops us up and brings us back to Lyoko.

 **Desert sector**

The Transport Orb re-opens. We're back on Lyoko's Desert Sector.

" _I'm bringing you in now. Aelita, go to the tower so I can re-materialize you from there."_

Aelita runs to the tower and enters the "doorway."

" _Re-materialization: Odd, Re-materialization: Ulrich, Re-materialization: Yumi,"_

Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi re-materialize, their bodies devirtualize.

" _And finally... re-materialization: Lila."_

My body virtualizes, and I smile.

 _Mary, now that I know that the Giant Jellyfish has you locked inside its mind... nothing is going to stop me from bringing you back. I'll find a way to destroy it, and free you,_ I think.

 **Later that night**

 **In Jeremy's room**

Ulrich and Yumi are sitting on the ground. Aelita, Odd and I are sitting on Jeremy's bed. Aelita is holding Kiwi, she pets him.

"You should have seen it Einstein! There were these weird bot things, and they were fast too! Like zoom! What's more, there was this big Giant Jellyfish in the middle of the room!" Odd exclaims. Kiwi growls at that, and goes over to sit by Odd.

"To think... that thing was stealing my memories," Aelita shudders, rubbing her temples. She stops.

"One thing is for sure, even though Xana already has Mary, it seems that he wants to get something specific from Aelita too. I can't help but wonder if he wants something from you too Lila? But what? That's what we have to find out," Jeremy says.

"I think going back to the fifth sector will be pretty cool. I can't wait. There's so much to explore," Ulrich says.

"I'll go with you; it'll be totally awesome," Yumi agrees.

"Hang on a minute! There's a lot of preparation and studying that needs to be done first before we go to that sector again. Which is why, until we better understand this fifth sector, we should consider it Uncharted Territory. Meaning it can be totally dangerous," Jeremy explains.

"I - I hope you guys aren't angry with me... I know Xana manipulated me into going to Lyoko with Aelita. It might have been better if Aelita and I had gone to the Hermitage with you instead. I ended up putting myself and Aelita in danger. And something else happened, see I-" I start to tell Jeremy the truth about him, since Aelita already knows, but she interrupts me.

"Xana didn't just manipulate Mary's voice, he manipulated her entire image, as a hologram, and tried to lure us into a more permanent trap, right, Lila?"

Unsure as to why Aelita is covering for me, I nod.

"Right."

"And Aelita... we're sorry if we made you feel a bit lonely, even if Lila was there with you. We should have realized... I promise to spend more time with you," Jeremy smiles.

"Thank you, Jeremy... I didn't feel _too_ lonesome. Like you said, Lila was there for me," Aelita says.

"And we'll be there when you need us Aelita," Yumi adds.

"Always," Ulrich nods.

Smiling Aelita looks at me, I smile too.

"Yeah and if you ever have trouble with Sissi we can teach you to -" Odd starts to say, but is interrupted by Sissi.

"Odd!" Sissi exclaims, storming up to the doorway. "Do you have any idea what that mutt of yours did in the showers?" she asks. Kiwi growls at her. Sissi takes another look at us.

"Oh, what a pretty picture! I see that you finally found the two sisters!" Sissi says.

"Yeah, while you were taking your third shower of the day! If it weren't for Cameron, we wouldn't have had a clue that Lila wasn't feeling well," Ulrich says.

"Well Ulrich dear, a beautiful flower like me needs to be watered often," Sissi says.

"Sissi you-" Odd starts to say, and Aelita interrupts him.

"I was making sure Lila wasn't sick when she mentioned she wasn't feeling well at lunch. Cameron was nice to us, he understood she wasn't feeling well either. He didn't want to bother us. You know Sissi, it seems to me that he cares about other people's feelings. Unlike you, who would much rather bother him, when he told you he didn't want to go out with you."

"You-you-you pink haired twig!" Sissi exclaims, blushing from embarrassment.

"I'd rather be a pink haired twig than a delicate little flower, who and I quote, 'needs to be watered often.' But go ahead, keep taking your showers, Miss Flower. You might just sprout a brain! " Aelita fires back.

"Humph!" Sissi exclaims, she leaves us. We can't help but laugh at her.

"Wow Aelita, I think you can teach Odd some lessons," Ulrich jokes.

"You sure learn fast!" Yumi says. Odd puts his arm around Aelita, they smile and laugh. I can't help but smile myself.

 **Afterwards**

 **In Lila and Aelita's room**

I sit down on Aelita's bed, she sits next to me. I look at her.

"Say... why didn't you tell the others the truth? About what fake Mary said?"

"Jeremy being your father is something he shouldn't find out. I understand a truth like that could be a bit... challenging to move forward from," Aelita answers.

"Thanks, Aelita," I smile.

Aelita nods, "You're welcome. May I ask you one question?"

"Sure."

Aelita gives me a serious look,

"Who exactly was your mother in the future _?_ "

Done! I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! What will happen next? Stay tuned to find out! We'll be sticking to our regularly scheduled updates which will be every 1-2 weeks! So expect a chapter in that time frame!

Author's note: Lila's official picture is now up! There were a few old drawings I went through with different artists, to give you a rough idea of what Lila looks like. If you'd like to know who the artists were that drew these pictures, please feel free to send me a message in the inbox! I'd be happy to give you their contact info. Also, the last picture had Lila's hair too short. Remember in the fanfiction, as she is now, she has long hair. So the previous drawing I had of Lila, should have been taken as a rough idea of what she looks like. The drawing for Lila on the story's cover will remain the same unless I decide to find an artist who will take a commission to do a Lyoko version of herself!

P.S. Yes, I had some more references from the Code: Cameron written by Undeadmonkey8. And yes, I know the creepers were meant to appear in this chapter. BUT, because Xana is accessing Mary's memories... it means he'll have the ability to change things. I mean, after all, this is a time travel story and things will be changing. Just... how much will change? You'll find out in time!

Additional author's note: I messed UP, BIG TIME. The Scyphozoa is NOT a Giant Squid. It's a Giant Jellyfish, LOL. Thanks, AeroJester203 for catching that!

 **Don't forget to review!**

 **LyokoWarrior1994**


	19. Exploration!

**This chapter was written by me and edited by AwesomeFanfictionAuthor.**

 **Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is copyrighted by Moonscoop.**

 **I only own Lila. Mary is owned by AeroJester203. Cameron is owned by Undeadmonkey8. Not Undeadmokey08, an embarrassing mistake on my part xD.**

 _Exploration!_

 **In Lila and Aelita's room**

 **POV Lila's**

"Um... who is exactly was your mom in the future?" Aelita asks. I meet Aelita's gaze.

"Apart from what Mary told me on our mission today, is that she… she... died from an illness. I… I never knew her…" I trail off, lying slightly.

"You never knew her? I'm so sorry… that must have been awful…" Aelita trails off.

"It was… still is in some ways. I lost my mom… and now I lost Mary… who was like my mom. I'm losing the people I care about the most…"

Looking at me, Aelita gives me a hug trying to comfort me.

"I'm still here. You haven't lost me, and I don't plan on going anywhere," she says. She lets go of me.

"Thanks, Aelita… that means a lot. We should change into our pajamas and go to bed before Jim notices our lights are still on. Remember, we have a curfew," I tell her.

"Right," Aelita nods.

 **A few days later**

 **In Jeremy's room**

 **During the afternoon**

Jeremy closes his door and turns to us. Aelita and I are sitting on his bed, Odd and Ulrich are sitting on the carpet, and Yumi is leaning against Jeremy's desk. She's a bit bummed out, considering what happened today.

 _I feel bad that Yumi has had to lie to her parents so much lately… it really doesn't help that she's a day student. I wonder if she's ever considered moving into the dorms, and getting a room of her own? If she did, who would she room with? Sissi? Er… probably not a good idea. I wish there was something I could do though,_ I think, concerned for my friend.

"I think it's high time we explore the new sector. Who knows, we might be able to find Xana's weakness," Jeremy says.

"You think that's possible?" Ulrich asks.

"Of course. We have some sort of clue of what to expect in Sector Five. Especially the uh Giant Jellyfish. What did you name it Jeremy?" Aelita asks.

"The Scyphozoa," Jeremy answers.

"Right. The Scyphozoa. Lila and I just need to avoid that, and do our best to take out those Bot monsters," Aelita replies.

"Yeah! Wait until they get a taste of my Laser Arrows again!" Odd exclaims enthusiastically.

"With all of us there... I think we'll be okay," I nod.

"I... I can't make it tonight," Yumi speaks up. We look at her.

"How come?" Jeremy asks.

"My parents... you saw what they did to me today. Walking me to school like I'm some sort of child... I just can't," Yumi replies.

"We understand. Lying can be really difficult... it hurts to lie to the people you care about," I say. Yumi nods.

"Just... give me the full rundown tomorrow, if you can, okay?" Yumi asks.

"Don't worry, we'll keep you informed. I'm sure there will be plenty of other times for you to go to Sector Five," Jeremy answers.

"Thanks, guys," Yumi smiles slightly.

 **Later that night**

 **In the scanner room**

Aelita, Ulrich, Odd, and I are standing in front of the scanners.

" _I'll be sending you to the Forest Sector first. Lila, you'll have to go after them."_

"Sure thing, Jeremy," I say.

Aelita, Ulrich, and Odd step into their scanners.

" _Transfer: Aelita, Transfer: Ulrich, Transfer: Odd,"_ Jeremy says. The scanners close.

" _Scanner: Aelita, Scanner: Ulrich, Scanner: Odd."_

The scanners start humming and then re-open. I step into the middle scanner, alone.

" _Transfer."_ The scanners doors close. Closing my eyes, the scanner starts spinning.

" _Scanner."_ The spinning continues, and I hear the hum of the machinery. I wait for the gush of wind and bright light.

" _Virtualization!"_

The bright light and wind engulf me, virtualizing me to Lyoko.

 **Lyoko's Forest Sector**

I land in the Forest Sector, with the others already on their vehicles. Aelita is on Yumi's Overwing. I get onto my broomstick.

" _You'll need to get to the end of the sector. Unfortunately, I have no way of predicting where the monsters will be until they show up. I'll enter the code for the transporter once you're there."_

"That's fine by me Jeremy," I say, and kick up my broom. The rest follow suit and we speed through the forest.

"You know, Jeremy, perhaps I should have a vehicle of my own," Aelita suggests. "I feel bad about borrowing Yumi's Overwing."

" _I'm sure she wouldn't mind, Aelita."_

Odd flies closer to Aelita, so she can hear better.

"The Overboard is pretty cool, Aelita. Would you like to try it out?"

"No!" We all exclaim at him, minus Aelita.

" _Odd, I don't think you would be careful enough if Aelita were on your Overboard."_

"Of course, I would be! Besides, our Princess should at least be traveling in style!" Odd exclaims.

"In style, what exactly do you know about style Odd?" Ulrich asks.

"I know a lot about it!" Odd exclaims, offended.

"Uh huh…. And Odd, should I tell Yumi that you think her Overwing isn't stylish?" I ask.

He looks at me,

"That's not what I meant!"

I roll my eyes, and Aelita speaks up.

"Well... if I'm being honest… after the incident with Lila's broom flying me into the tower, maybe having my own vehicle isn't the best idea," Aelita says.

"It was one time and it was an emergency!" I say. Ulrich and Odd can't help but laugh.

" _You've got four hornets heading your way!"_ Jeremy exclaims.

"Right, we're on it. Aelita, hang back until we get rid of them," Odd says.

"Right," Aelita says, pulling behind us on the Overwing. The four incoming hornets start charging their lasers. I balance myself on my broomstick so that I can grab my staff and aim it at the Hornets.

"Exardesco, Exardesco!" I exclaim. My amulet starts glowing. I steer my broomstick to the right and swing my staff. Two Fire Bolts fly at the Hornets. One of the Hornets swiftly moves to the side and dodges the incoming attack. The other Fire Bolt hits the Hornet, and it explodes.

"Laser Arrows!" Odd exclaims, firing several laser arrows. Two Hornets lock onto Odd's Laser Arrows and fire their lasers. They destroy the Laser Arrows.

"Well, that's new!" Odd exclaims, frustrated. Moving to the right, we make ourselves decoys in order to give Ulrich time to attack them.

"Move to your left! On the count of three!" Ulrich exclaims.

 _One, two, three!_ I think, moving to the left. Ulrich yells and Super Sprints from his Overbike. Taking out his Katana, he spins in the air and, almost as if he's flying, catching the hornet's attention. Turning to him, the Hornets begin to charge their lasers, but Ulrich slashes through one Hornet, and then the next. He neatly lands on the Overbike, which was still going.

"Odd, last one!" Ulrich exclaims.

"Right! I got it!" Odd exclaims. Cocking his paw, Odd aims at the Hornet and fires off three Laser Arrows. They fly into the air and at least one of them hits the Xana symbol. The Hornet explodes.

" _Nice teamwork, you guys. Aelita it's safe now,"_ Aelita moves from her hiding place and soon catches up with us on the Overwing.

 **Afterwards**

We get to the end of the sector and hop off our vehicles.

"Jeremy, we're here," Ulrich informs.

" _I'm entering the code... Scipio."_

"There's the transporter," Aelita says. The Transporter orb comes to pick us up.

The Transporter orb opens, scooping all of us up. It brings us to Sector Five.

 **Sector Five**

 **Arena Room**

The Transporter orb opens and releases us in the arena room. Odd puts a hand on his mouth, feeling sick from the room's spinning.

"What's wrong Odd? Not feeling well?" Aelita asks.

Odd nods, he uncovers his mouth and sighs. "I know I can't puke on Lyoko, but, Jeremy, you might wanna get a barf bag for when I get back."

"Maybe you shouldn't eat so much breakfast," Ulrich jesters.

"Yeah, you're right," Odd agrees. "But that'll never happen! Besides, I'm pretty svelte."

Ulrich rubs his chin,

"More like scrawny."

"I'm not scrawny!" Odd exclaims, offended.

"Guys let's concentrate on the mission," I sigh.

"Sorry!" both Odd and Ulrich exclaim.

" _I'd hate to interrupt this conversation, but once the door opens, the countdown will start. You'll need to find the key and trip it before time runs out. Otherwise, your trip will be cut short."_

The room stops spinning and the door aligns itself and opens.

" _It's started!"_

"We're on it!" Ulrich exclaims. Running to the door, we enter the doorway and begin running on the bridge. Once we get to the end of the bridge, the wall opens, and we run to the main section of Sector Five.

 _"You know what happens if Aelita ends up losing her life points, don't you?"_

"We know, Jeremy, and there's no way we're going to let that happen!" I exclaim. We start running down the stairs.

"The last time Lila and I were here, there was a big room at the end of this hallway," Aelita says.

" _If my hunch is correct, something tells me that every time you go into Sector Five, the core zone changes. It's like a labyrinth,"_ Jeremy surmises.

We stop at the end of the hallway to catch our breath. Looking at the room, I notice that it is indeed different from the last time Aelita and I were here.

 _If the room changes, how are we going to find the countdown key in time?!_ I think.

"That'll help with the navigation," Odd grimaces.

"If we knew everything, then what would be the point of exploring?" Ulrich asks. "Let's go this way!' he says. He starts using his super speed and we follow him.

 _"You've got two Xana bots behind you!"_

Ulrich and Aelita turn right and enter a different room. Odd and I stay behind. Taking out my staff, I start chanting in Latin and Odd cocks his paw.

"Exardesco! Exardesco!" I exclaim. I swing my staff and fire off two Fire Bolts. The two spheres fly over to us, firing their lasers, and Odd jumps in the air. He fires off one of his Laser arrows. Our attacks fly directly at each of the Bots, hitting them in the Xana target, and the Bots explode. I put my staff back in its sheath.

 _I've got six Fire Bolts left, got to be careful,_ I think.

"It seems Xana is still getting used to his new toys," Odd jokes. We run to catch up to Aelita and Ulrich.

"True," I say, running down the hallway. "Which turn do Odd and I make at the end of this hallway?" I ask Jeremy.

" _Your right,"_ Turning right, we run down the hallway and reach a new room. Aelita and Ulrich are there, the room is completely empty.

"Woah... this place is definitely something. Let's take that bridge over there." Ulrich says, turning to us.

Looking at the bridge, we nod. We start running through the hallways and rooms in a seemingly random fashion, Ulrich taking the lead simply because he's the fastest. He stops in a certain room and gasps. Aelita and I gasp as well.

 _This is the same room we were in earlier!_ I think.

"Haven't we've already been through here?" Ulrich asks.

"We have, I'm positive," I reply.

"Great, so we're going in circles then?" Odd asks.

"Let's try that way!" Aelita points over to a different path. Taking it, we start running along the path and pass an entrance, at which Aelita stops. I look at her.

"Aelita?" I ask.

"This way!" Aelita replies. She starts running down the new hallway. A laser hits Aelita, and she flies back, her body sparking. Ulrich quickly grabs Aelita and helps her up, bringing her to the side. Odd starts firing his laser arrows at the Xana bots and dodges one of their lasers. He moves to the side of the wall, with us.

" _Those bots are extremely dangerous! 40 life points in one go!"_

"Lila... do you think you can use that new spell? Blackout?" Ulrich asks.

"Yeah but it's going to cost me fifty life points... and we need to be careful in Sector Five. I have the feeling, we can't devirtualize normally here," I reply.

"Huh? Why not?" Odd asks.

"I'm not sure... but I'll start the spell," I reply. Closing my eyes, I begin breathing in and out.

"Praeumbro!" I exclaim in Latin. Opening my eyes, I see my amulet starting to glow black. Everything starts going dark, and I take my sword out of its sheath.

 _This next spell will cost me ten life points… that makes sixty already! Man, sometimes I hate these spells. If I get hit once by a Bot, I'm a goner!_ I think.

"Celeritas!" I exclaim.

My amulet starts glowing orange while still maintaining the blackout spell. I speed my way down the walls of the corridor.

Jumping off of them, I swing my sword at the first Xana bot, slicing it in half. I swing my sword at the second bot, slicing it in half, too. And finally, I slice the third in half and sheathe my sword.

 _It's a total knockout!_ I think. My amulet stops glowing, and the world returns to normal. The three Xana Bots explode simultaneously.

" _Lila, great work!"_

"Thanks, but let's go and find that countdown key of yours," I say. Odd, Ulrich, and Aelita start running down the corridor. My eyes start blinking rapidly, it's as if I'm watching TV but at a super fast rate. I gasp slightly.

 **In vision**

 _I see a path, like a camera at my eye height. The vision goes forward and then twists through the blue block corridors. Finally, it stops in front of a wall and looks up. A button shaped like the eye of Xana… high up on the wall._

 **End vision**

Getting my wits about, I turn around. I start running normally, without my Celeritas spell, in the direction the vision showed me.

"Lila? Where are you going?!" Odd exclaims. I keep running. I would answer him, but we're on a timer here.

"Follow her, quickly!" Aelita exclaims.

 **In a new room**

I spot the countdown key on the wall nearby.

 _Just where the vision showed me it would be._ _How is that possible? I know Mary said there's a possibility that I would have a connection to Sector Five… but if my book on time travel is right, and I'm living in a separate timeline from my own… then why am I having visions that lead me to the countdown key... in this timeline? Maybe my timeline and this timeline isn't so different after at all, besides the minor, changes I've made. Dad…why didn't you tell me I was born in Sector Five? Why did you keep mom's illness a secret? What exactly is there to hide?_ I think.

"No way... Jeremy, Lila lead us straight to the countdown key," Ulrich says, finally catching up to me.

 _"How did you manage that Lila?"_

"I'm not sure... it came to me in a vision," I answer.

"A vision? No fair, you stole my Future Flash ability!" Odd exclaims.

"Odd, this isn't the time to argue. I didn't steal your ability. I just... this place, it feels... I don't know how to explain it," I say. I take my staff out and balance myself on it.

 _Bring me to the key,_ I command the staff. _I know I just lost another ten life points… ugh. 70, already,_ I think. The staff levitates me in the air, holding on to it carefully brings me over to the key.

 _"Thirteen, twelve, eleven, ten,"_ Jeremy begins counting down.

I finally get high enough to actually press the countdown key. I balance myself carefully on my staff and begin reaching for the countdown key.

" _Five, four, three-"_ Looking up, I see three Xana Bots zooming towards me, entering the room without warning. They surround me. Stumbling in shock, I fall from the staff. They fire their lasers at me. The lasers hit me, and I vanish in a cloud of pixels.

 **Somewhere**

 **In Limbo**

I appear in a space, surrounded by nothing but yellow. I try to move, but for some reason, I am unable to.

"Where am I?" I ask. My voice echoes through the ether. Suddenly, Odd appears.

"Woah! What is this crazy place?!" Odd asks. He tries to move his body but is unable to. He notices the echo too. "ECHO!" he screams, laughing a little, but then he quiets down.

 _Even if it's kind of entertaining, this is serious. I'm glad he recognizes that_ I think.

"You know... this reminds me of the time when Jeremy was in limbo," I say.

"But didn't Jeremy say he could move?" Odd asks.

"Hmm... well his profile was incomplete. Maybe a completed profile like ours can't move."

"That makes sense. But if we can't move, what are we supposed to do?" Odd asks.

"Talk about our feelings?" I ask. Odd and I look at each other.

"Nah," we say in unison.

"So... Einstein, said you're just like Aelita, right? Does that make you feel strange at all? How does all of it work?"

"Not really, it doesn't make me feel strange. And…we're not entirely sure honestly. By the way, where was Ulrich the last time you saw him?" I ask.

"He was helping Aelita with those Bots. Since we didn't get to the countdown key in time, the Scyphozoa arrived. The same Giant Jellyfish creature we saw the first time. It tried to get Aelita. The walls started closing up, and before the Scyphozoa had the chance, Ulrich uses his super speed and got Aelita out of there. The walls closed in on me, and here I am."

"If Ulrich is still in Sector Five, he and Aelita must be trying to get us back somehow. Maybe she found a new room or something that'll help us," I say. "And I'm sure Jeremy must be trying his best to bring us back, somehow," I say.

"I'm sure he is. And Ulrich's probably still dealing with those Xana Bots if he didn't have time to get away from them. I wonder what other creatures are in Sector Five? I guess we'll find out the next time we're there," he says.

"Yeah, guess so," I say

"Say, what was Jeremy like in the future?" Odd asks suddenly.

"He was about the same, to be honest," I reply.

"I can't say that I'm surprised. I've been thinking... if Jeremy was alive in the future, that must mean Aelita was alive, right? I mean, Aelita and Jeremy are both brilliant, Einstein material. Surely they can survive an apocalyptic future. So, and this might sound crazy, but are you their daughter?"

"Um..." I trail off, trying to come up with some sort of answer. "I - uh- see the thing is uh-"

"I knew it! You are their daughter! I wanted to ask you for a while now. It's just that, your eyes are brown like Jeremy and Aelita's. Your hair gives it away, it reminded me of Jeremy's hair a bit honestly," Odd says.

"It does?" I ask, totally taken aback.

"Yeah! Why don't you tell them the truth?"

"Because, Odd, I don't know the circumstances of how my mother and father got together. This timeline is already different from the one I was born in. Those Bots shouldn't exist now, but they do. If I tell them I'm their daughter, it would force an unnatural romantic connection between them. If that happens, and I fail whatever mission Jeremy from my future, sent me here to do, then there's a possibility the Lila in this timeline's future won't be born. And if that happens-" I start to explain, but Odd interrupts.

"Okay, okay I get the picture. It's bad news, I get it," Odd says.

"Thanks, Odd," I smile. "By the way, should I take it as an insult or a compliment that my hair reminds you of Jeremy's?"

"Compliment of course! Why do you think I call him Einstein? And I'm betting you have genius potential too. And Aelita's a genius too, I should probably start calling her Mrs. Einstein," Odd smiles.

"Heh, okay good answer. And don't you dare call her that, she might take it too literally and figure out she's my mom," I say.

"Okay, okay. I'll try not to," Odd's image starts to fade in and out.

"Woah what's happening?" he asks.

"I think you're going back to the real world."

"Shouldn't you be too?" Odd asks, his hands fade completely.

"Yes, but it might take me a little-" I start to say, and my body starts to fade as well. "Never mind."

 **Back in the scanner room**

The scanners doors reopen. Jeremy and Aelita catch me. I cough, feeling light-headed and weak. Ulrich catches Odd.

"Just where were you two, anyhow?" Ulrich asks. He helps Odd up. Jeremy and Aelita help me up as well.

"We were..." I start to trail off, but I can't think of anything.

"Actually, I honestly have no recollection of where we were. Odd, do you remember?"

"Nope!" Odd exclaims.

"Well, wherever you two were, the important thing is you're here now. It took a while for us to find the right materialization codes for Sector Five. We got them through a data interface, that was on this bridge Ulrich and Aelita were on. After finding the right codes, there were these flying Manta like creatures that hatched. Aelita got your codes, and then I accessed these sort of tunnels in which Ulrich and Aelita used to exit the sector!" Jeremy says.

"Wow, neat!" I exclaim.

"And we discovered something interesting about the data interface, something... special," Jeremy says.

"What?" I ask.

"The data interface accesses Xana's own data! That's because... Sector Five... is where Xana lives! It also has access to Lyoko's data!" Aelita exclaims.

"Huh?!" Odd asks.

"Then that means…" I trail off.

"It means we should be able to gather data from there and eventually find an antivirus for Aelita!" Jeremy exclaims.

"That's fantastic," Ulrich says.

"It sure is!" I smile.

Aelita turns to me,

"When we start gathering the data for my antivirus, I'll see if I can find some sort of data that can tell us how to free Mary from the Scyphozoa. As well as finding a way to unlink you, Mary, and Xana," Aelita says.

"That's… that's great news Aelita," I smile.

 _Things are starting to look up,_ I think.

Author's note: Yumi had a lot of trouble with her family, whenever she snuck out in the show. So, I decided to take Yumi out for the rest of this chapter to be sure no such drama happens. She'll be back though!

Yes, some more references to Code: Cameron & Code: Memories, from Undeadmonkey8's stories. Seriously, if you haven't already, get started on reading those stories. Code: Cameron first. I can't stress enough, that they are FANTASTIC!

P.S. More embarrassing side note... uh... The Scyphozoa is NOT a Giant Squid. It's a Giant Jellyfish. Oops, xD. Thanks again for letting me know AeroJester203!

 **Don't forget to review!**

 **LyokoWarrior1994**


	20. A great day

**This chapter was written by me and edited by AwesomeFanFictionAuthor.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko, all copyrighting goes to Moonscoop.**

 **I only own my OC Lila. Mary, is owned by AeroJester203. Cameron is owned by Undeadmonkey8.**

Author's note: Hi everyone! A big important author's note concerning Lila's Journey. Recently, I have gone back to the previous chapters and fixed multiple errors. These errors mainly involved spelling errors, writing errors, grammar errors, and punctuation errors. I've fixed Mary's description and made it more descriptive. In Xana awakens part 1, she now wears a simple black business suit and black dress pants with heels. I've also added bolded scene labels in all of the chapters. In Xana awakens part 2, errors have been fixed. Electric chemistry was changed to Electrochemistry. With Exploration! There was an inconsistency with Odd's lines. He mentioned Lila looked like Aelita because of her eyes. In truth, Jeremy and Aelita both share the same eye color. So I changed the lines and Odd even calls Aelita "Mrs. Einstein," though Lila isn't too happy about that nickname. If you were to go back and reread the chapters, you would go back and see that the dots are no longer in any chapters.

Also, there were some inconsistencies with Lila's memories of her past (which is in the future). The first inconsistency I spotted, was when Lila mentioned that the factory was destroyed. She's mentioned this a few times, but the one I'm referring to is when she mentioned it was destroyed when Lila was at a young age. This is false, because we've seen the destruction of Lyoko when Lila is much older. The next inconsistency I spotted in her memories was when Lila is young and Jeremy starts explaining Lyoko to her. He's seen doing that at least twice, and so in one of the chapters I added "As he explains more about Lyoko to me," (or something close to that.) I've been updating these chapters these chapters back and forth, so I don't remember where what chapter it was or exactly how I fixed it. Another inconsistency I fixed was with a tower location. In this early chapter Jeremy told Lila the tower was activated in the forest sector. But she and Aelita are seen traveling to the desert then the forest. I fixed it so that Lila is just virtualized directly in the forest sector and Aelita is already in the forest sector, so this way no changing of sectors was required. Basically lots of inconsistencies were fixed.

Lila's spell "Excardesco," was spelled wrong. I've seemed to have caught all spelling errors of that and her spell is now correctly spelled "Exardesco." When Lila had her explosion spell when she was fused with Mary, I changed it to: "Crepitus." For Lila's sword and staff, I changed any mention of "my saber" to my sword, since Lila's sword is a sword. On her sword, I also put the Latin writing "Ignesco." And on the wooden bottom part of her staff, Lila's staff reads "Exardesco." There was one chapter where a new error occurred. "Crepitus," was not the word for Lila's strength spell. "Viribus," is. Jeremy also mentioned in one of the earlier chapters that Lila had a limit of twenty Fire Bolts. This is false, as Lila has a limit of ten Fire Bolts.

I've also fixed most errors dealing with the word specter. This has been changed to "spectre." This was a tiring process to do, but it was worth it! The errors that have occurred while making these changes, have been fixed as well! So yeah, Changing Destiny: Lila's Journey, has now been made easier to read for new readers and current readers! Sorry for the long note!

I apologize for any inconvenience if you have received emails saying the story was updated. Yes it was updated, but not with a new chapter **.** So here's the new one!

Enjoy the chapter!

 _A "great" day_

 **In the lab**

 **POV Lila's**

"The data analysis is running," Jeremy informs. We've just come back from Sector Five on a mission to gather data on Xana.

"Great, and what does that mean, exactly?" Odd asks.

Jeremy turns the holosphere off. "With all of the data we've been able to recover, I've got a good chance of finding the antiviruses."

"You mean - that pretty soon we'll be able to shut down the supercalculator?" Ulrich asks. Jeremy nods.

"And if it works, Aelita will no longer be tied to Xana. We can shut down the supercomputer. The antivirus that I'm working on for Lila should eventually unlink the three-way link Mary setup if for some reason Aelita's antivirus doesn't work. I'm confident the antiviruses, will do what they're meant to do. We'll be able to get rid of Xana once and for all," Jeremy answers.

"Oh shoot. What are we going to do with our free time? I mean, if we can't save the world anymore," Odd jokes.

"You might study a little more and learn something for once," Yumi teases. Jeremy checks his watch.

"3:00 am? Wow! We'd better head for our rooms if we don't want to get caught."

"And I better get back home before my parents realize I'm missing. Now that I'm on good terms with them, I don't want to mess things up," Yumi adds.

 **Two hours later**

 **In Lila and Aelita's room**

I blink a few times, then check my cell phone, which is charging on the desk. I see that it's Tuesday, and it's 5:00 am. Aelita hasn't gotten up yet. I climb down the ladder, grab my towel, in my closet, my change of clothes, along with shampoo and soap. I slip into my sandals. I slip out the door, ready to go and take a shower.

 _I hope I don't have wait in line to take a shower. It sucks having to get up early because of Sissi. Running on two hours of sleep is not a good start to the day,_ I think.

 **Later**

 **Mrs. Hertz's class**

I'm sitting across from Odd, Ulrich, and Jeremy, taking notes on the lecture. Cameron is sitting at a desk behind me. Mrs. Hertz is writing on the blackboard.

"And who can tell us what photosynthesis is? Anyone?" Mrs. Hertz asks.

I see Ulrich, Odd, and Jeremy are whispering about something.

"You three!" Mrs. Hertz exclaims, demanding the boys' attention.

"Yes, ma'am!" They exclaim in unison.

"Ulrich, Odd! Can you explain to me what photosynthesis is? Jeremy, don't answer for them. I have a different question for you."

"Um..." Odd and Ulrich trail off.

"Well, if you can't do that, then perhaps you would care to enlighten the class about your conversation?" Mrs. Hertz asks.

Cameron looks at the boys, annoyed at them for disrupting the class.

My vision suddenly blurs, and I fall out of my chair. I black out.

 **In the nurse's office**

My eyes flutter open. I feel something on my arm, and turn to see Miss Yolanda checking my pulse. I'm in the infirmary.

"-be okay?" a voice asks. Cameron, Jeremy, Ulrich, Odd, and Aelita all look at me.

"Hey, you're awake. Welcome back," Odd says.

"How long have I been out?" I ask, trying to prop myself up. The dizziness comes back, and Miss Yolanda helps me lay back down.

"A few hours. If I didn't catch you, you'd probably have a concussion," Cameron replies.

"You caught me?" I ask.

"Yeah, I wouldn't let a friend fall off her chair. I had to get out my chair rather quickly though," Cameron smiles. I smile back.

"What do you think happened?" Ulrich asks.

"I have no idea. How's my blood pressure, Miss Yolanda?" I ask.

"It's normal. Which is a bit strange, to be honest," Miss Yolanda replies. She unwraps the cuff.

"How so?" Aelita inquires.

"Well she fainted, and her pulse is perfect. It should be low," Miss Yolanda answers.

"Maybe I didn't get enough sleep last night, I was up studying rather late," I lie.

"I'll have to write your teachers a note to let them know you'll be missing classes today. Maybe tomorrow too, just as a precaution," Miss Yolanda says.

"I can take notes for her in class," Aelita smiles.

"That's fine, I'll let her teachers know you'll be doing that. Try not to stay too long, she needs her rest," Miss Yolanda says. She leaves the nurse's office.

"I should go. Keep me updated on your condition, okay?" Cameron asks.

"Sure thing," I smile. Cameron smiles back and leaves the room.

"I can't help but wonder if your fainting has something to do with the link Mary gave you," Jeremy mutters once Cameron's gone.

My eyes wander to a bright light coming toward us from outside.

"Guys!" I exclaim and point to the window. They turn.

"What the-" Odd says, but he's cut off as the big white bubble engulfs us all.

 **In Lila and Aelita's room**

I open my eyes and rub the sleepiness out of them. I blink twice and check my cell phone on the desk. The time on my digital clock reads 5:00 am. Its' still Tuesday. It's dark out too, and the sun has yet to come up. Looking down at Aelita's bed, I see she's still sleeping.

 _Was that a dream... or did we actually go back in time? If we did, then who set off the return to the past?_ I think.

Climbing down the ladder quietly, I reach the floor.

I decide to get my copy of my father's laptop. I pull out my chair and sit down. I open the laptop and waiting a few moments, it finally loads.

I type on the keyboard, opening my father's super scan program and run it for any signs of activated towers.

 _It's still weird this laptop re-connected with the supercomputer here, but it's definitely a nice convenience,_ I think.

Letting it get to work, the program blinks and locks onto the tower's location. Grabbing a sticky note and a pen from my desk, I write down the tower's location.

"Twelve degrees north and thirty-two degrees east. Ice Sector. Got it."

I close the copy of my father's laptop and go to my desk. Opening the drawer to my desk, I put the laptop inside and close it quietly. Looking at Aelita, I smile, grateful I haven't woke her up yet.

 _She's a heavy sleeper, that's a good thing. She deserves to get a lot of sleep with all she's done for us. Even if Xana somehow is gaining control of the return to the past program, we'll stop him. We always do, and for that everyone else needs a good night's rest. Even if I don't get one,_ I think.

I go to my closet to go and change into my usual clothes, again.

 _I already took a shower yesterday and the first time on Tuesday. Guess I should just skip the shower,_ I think. I open the closet quietly, as I let Aelita sleep in.

 **Afterwards**

I open the door to mine and Aelita's room, coming back from the bathroom and in my usual clothes. Closing the door quietly, I go to mine and Aelita's opened shared closet. Putting my pink pajamas in the closet. I take my music player Mary got me. I haven't used it in a while and decided it was best to leave it in the closet. Taking it, and the black headphones, I put them in my jacket's pocket. I zip my jacket, as it's probably still cool out and decide to go out for a run.

 **In the park**

Jogging in the park, which we usually have to go into to get to the woods, I'm listening to one of the Subsonics songs, Break Away.

 _This is probably one of my all-time favorite songs! I'm glad I purchased the song a while back. They're so good. I wish they would have kept their name… I heard from Uncle Ulrich that they changed their name to the Subdigitals sometime in the future. I like their name as it is now… so much better,_ I think.

 **Afterwards**

Catching my breath, I take in the sun's rays. I've been jogging for just about an hour or so.

 _It's pretty neat I got to see the sunrise today. I should head back and see if Sissi is done with her shower. Maybe I'll take one after all. I need to start exercising this body more often,_ I think.

 **Later**

 **In Lila and Aelita's room**

Freshly showered, I'm in my same usual day clothes and Aelita's already dressed, and gone to meet the others. It's about 8:00 am now. I had to wait an hour for Sissi, seeing as how she decided to take an extra long shower today. Aelita decided to go on ahead of me, and I told her that I'd meet her after I showered. I grab the sticky note and head outside to meet the others.

 **At the vending machines area**

"Why are we starting Tuesday over?" Aelita asks.

"I'm not sure. I'm trying to find out if Xana has activated a tower, but something is wrong with my laptop," Jeremy replies, fiddling with his computer.

"My super scan program can't seem to confirm an activated tower."

"That's okay Jeremy because my program did," I say, handing the sticky note to him. He looks at me. I feel everyone's eyes on me.

 _Oh… Right. No one knows I have that. Whoops… even though Aelita is the only who knows Jeremy is my father, she has no clue I own my super scan program. Or rather more accurately, my father created a much more advanced super scan than the one Jeremy currently has now. Hmm… how am I going to get myself out of this mess now?_ I think.

"Since when do you have a super scan program?" Jeremy asks.

"Um… for a while now. I have it on a laptop that I don't use very often. I invented my own because sometimes there are bugs in yours," I explain.

"Well… that's true," he takes the sticky note. I notice he seems a bit offended.

"Okay, so the tower is activated in the ice sector, twelve degrees north and thirty-two degrees east," Jeremy says, reading the notes. He looks back at us. He fixes the glasses to the bridge of his nose.

"Who wants to go?" he asks.

"It would be too suspicious if all of us went. Me, Yumi, and Aelita should go. Aelita can preset a virtualization for us. If we don't make it in time, we'll at least know exactly where the tower is," I reply.

"Why would Xana want to use the return to the past program?" Ulrich asks.

"That's a good question Ulrich. Xana must have his reasons," Jeremy responds.

"Let's go then," Yumi says.

 **In the lab**

Aelita, Yumi, and I run to the computer. Aelita sits on the chair and starts typing on the keyboard. Yumi and I go sides of Jeremy's chair. I'm on her right side, and Yumi is on her left. Yumi and I watch her type.

"There's something I have to check," Aelita says. She brings a window open. The data normally look green, but this time it's red.

"That doesn't look good," Yumi comments.

"It's not. Xana's corrupted the return to the past program with the data we've recovered from Sector Five. Booby trap data. That's why we've been going back in time. I need to warn Jeremy," Aelita says.

She grabs the headset and starts typing on the computer. A window pops up with Jeremy's picture and phone number.

" _Yes, Aelita?"_ Jeremy asks in a hushed tone.

"Jeremy, Xana's corrupted the return to the past program. He gave us booby trap data from the data we gathered yesterday in Sector Five. I'm not sure how long we'll have before another return trip is activated. I'm going to try and isolate Xana from the program from here. If Xana does manage to use the return to the past program again, it will be the last time. He'll be cut off from the program, and won't have access to it anymore, once he's isolated," Aelita explains.

" _Okay, good luck. I better go or else-"_

 _"Jeremy?! Are you on your phone?!"_ Mrs. Hertz exclaims. Aelita presses a few keys, ending the conversation. Jeremy's phone number and picture disappear.

Aelita starts typing, and after a few key commands, the data appears to be returning to normal.

"Great work Aelita!" I compliment. Aelita cracks her knuckles.

"Thanks, I'm setting up our pre-virtualization program," Aelita says. She starts typing on the keyboard, and a window pops up with a timer.

"Let's go," Aelita says. Nodding, Yumi, Aelita, and I go to the ladder shoot and climb down to the scanner room.

 **Lyoko's Ice Sector**

Opening my eyes, I see Yumi, Aelita, and I fall. We land safely.

"Unfortunately, there aren't enough resources for us to use our vehicles. I'll try and virtualize us near the tower, but we'll have to go on foot," Aelita says.

"That's okay. Old fashion ways are better sometimes," Yumi says.

Opening my eyes, I see Yumi, Aelita, and I fall. We land in a perfect three-point stance. The tower is surrounded by two Tarantulas and several Bloks. We hide behind a small glacier.

"Xana really has some heavy artillery for this one," I comment.

"That's for sure. I might be able to use my telekinesis against the Bloks, but those tarantulas are going to give us trouble," Yumi says.

"And, I don't think we have a lot of time left. The return to the past should be activating any second now," Aelita says.

"I'll use blackout against the Tarantulas, once I get to them. Blackout takes fifty life points, away, but this is an emergency. I'll use Celeritas to get to them, so sixty, but should give Aelita an opening," I say. Breathing in and out, I chant:

"Celeritas," My amulet starts glowing Orange.

 _If I let the Tarantulas hit me even once, it's game over,_ I think.

I start running at super speed, leaving a trail of orange behind.

The Tarantulas start raising their front legs and aims them at me. They charge their lasers and fire an open volley of lasers at me.

Continuing to use my Celetrias spell, I run to a free side where there aren't lasers.

Reaching the Tarantulas, I'm about to start chanting "Praeumbro."

But for some reason, the world starts to go blurry, my orange trail from the Celetrias spell, starts frizzing in and out. I tumble on the ice.

 _Not again…_ I think, as I stop tumbling and hit it hard.

"Lila!" Aelita and Yumi exclaim. I hear their footsteps far behind me, trying to get to me.

My eyes widen, and I see the return to the past bubble making our way towards us. The big white bubble engulfs us all.

 **In Lila and Aelita's room**

 **Tuesday**

I don't even bother to check my cell phone. It's Tuesday. AGAIN. Looking at the ceiling, I cross my arms.

 _This is ANNOYING!_ I think, huffing.

 **Later**

 **In the lab**

Jeremy, Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, Aelita, and I all meet up in the lab.

"I wish we knew what Xana was up to, I'm starting to worry. Lila... perhaps it might be best if you stay here with Jeremy, I have a bad feeling," Aelita says.

"Sure thing. To be honest, if I can't muster up the strength on Lyoko, then perhaps I'll be better off here," I say.

"We'll take care of that tower of yours, Einstein. You'll see," Odd says.

"Yeah let's go," Ulrich says, and they head for the elevator.

 **Afterwards**

"I'm going to start the transfer now," Jeremy says. He's about to press a key to begin the process when I speak up.

"Um, Jeremy... mind if I take this one?" I ask. Jeremy smiles. He gets off the chair and gestures me to it. I sit down.

"Correction: Lila will be taking this one. Yumi and Aelita, you'll go first. Odd, Ulrich, you'll have to go last," Jeremy says, still wearing the headset. He hands me the headset. I place the headset on my head and adjust the small mic.

I start typing and start up the virtualization process.

"Transfer: Yumi," I say. Yumi's profile pops up on the screen. "Transfer: Aelita." Aelita's profile pops up.

"Scanner: Yumi, Scanner: Aelita," I continue. Yumi's profile turns yellow. Aelita's profile turns yellow as well, I type in the final command keys.

"Virtualization."

I wait a few seconds before starting the same process with Ulrich and Odd. As I do, I feel a sudden eerie feeling. Ignoring it, I keep going.

"And virtualization!" I exclaim, hitting the final command key. Turning the chair, I look at Jeremy. Jeremy looks at me funny.

"Uh, Jeremy... what's wrong?" Taking the headset off, I see Jeremy's eyes flicker for a second. They reveal the symbol of Xana.

"No way..." I trail off. I grab the headset and yell: "Jeremy's been possessed by Xana! You've gotta deactivate-"

Jeremy's hands conjure up purple electricity, and he shoots it at me. Ducking and dropping the headset, I roll to the side.

 _"Lila, what's wrong?! Lila?!"_ Aelita exclaims.

I start running to the freight elevator, with Xanafied Jeremy right behind me, shooting bolts of electricity.

I dodge, and roll, and somehow making it to the elevator without getting hit. I press the button on the elevator, and the freight elevator goes up. Once again, my vision starts to become blurry.

 _Oh no! Not now!_ I think.

The freight elevator stops, and my vision returns to normal. I stumble out of the elevator.

 **On the top floor of the factory**

"At least I don't have to worry about-" I start to say, but I hear a growl coming from the direction of the freight elevator.

 _How did he get up there?!_ I exclaim. I see him on top of the freight elevator.

He leaps into the air and lands on the ground perfectly. His hands start to spark with purple electricity again.

"Come on Jeremy, I know you don't want to hurt me," I say. I start backing away. I get a slight chuckle from Xanafied Jeremy.

" **You're a tricky one Lila Smith... well, Lila Belpois,"** Xanafied Jeremy smirks, his voice a bit demonic. My eyes widen.

"So... you know?" I ask. Xanafied Jeremy taps his head.

" **Of course I know. With Mary's information, I've found out who you truly are. How do you think I created those Bots? I used that information from her memories! It seems your father told her about the.. atrocities they committed. The images she pictured of those deaths, from those small death Bots... just breathtaking. They are far more efficient than the creepers the original me used in the original timeline. Faster too. Heh, time travel, it's quite complicated even for me. I still haven't fully accessed everything Mary knows, not yet. But – in time, I will."**

"It's not her fault she was afraid of them! Tell me, why am I fainting? What did you do to me?!" I demand.

Xanafied Jeremy starts laughing maniacally, and I back up.

" **Humans really are ignorant!"** Xanafied Jeremy exclaims. His hands start sparking with purple electricity again. I start backing up faster, in fear of him.

 _What's wrong with me? I shouldn't be afraid of Xana! I should be able to deal with him... and yet for some reason, I just can't!_ I think. My vision blurs again. I start losing feeling in my legs and collapse on the ground. Xanafied Jeremy bends down, his hand hovers above my head, ready to zap me.

" **Such a shame,"** his voice echoes. My eyes start to close, but just before they fully do, Xanafied Jeremy puts his hands on his head. Screaming in pain, one of Xana's spectre's expels itself from within Jeremy. It slowly but surely disappears. Jeremy faints on the ground, and I faint next to him.

 **Wednesday**

 **At the vending machines area**

Jeremy, Ulrich, Odd, Aelita, Yumi, and I are by the vending machines.

 _Mrs. Hertz and some of our other teachers were mad that we skipped most of our classes yesterday. We got six hours of detention and had to make up all of our work… being a hero and juggling school work can be so difficult, ugh,_ I think.

"It's strange to think that Xana's growing in power. I can't believe he possessed me," Jeremy says.

"It is strange yeah… he's just growing more and more powerful…" I trail off.

 _It doesn't help that he's getting information from Mary's memories either,_ I think.

"Great, it just gets better and better," Ulrich says.

"What I'm really worried about is your fainting problem, Lila. It's never affected you on Lyoko before," Yumi says.

"No, it hasn't... and I think Xana knows the reason why I'm fainting," I say.

"He does? How?" Odd asks.

"Not sure, he just implied he knew something I didn't," I answer.

"If Xana can possess people now, we're all at risk. Lila is there some way we can find out what's causing your fainting?" Aelita asks.

"I'm not sure... the only people who seem to know the truth are Mary and Xana. We can't ask Xana because we can't trust him," I reply.

"And one thing does bother me… it's this three-way link. I know all of you were probably shocked when Aelita explained what happened between me, Mary, and Xana, after we explored Sector Five the first time. But to be completely honest, this three-way link feels unnecessary, because Aelita is already linked to Xana on a separate link entirely. I think we should just wait until we free Mary, so she can remove the three-way link, since she's the one who linked the three of us in the first place," I add.

"Okay, then we'll leave the link up to Mary once we free her from The Scyphozoa. This is concerning... it seems from an extent, we can't trust Mary to tell us the truth either. We'll have to find out the truth for ourselves somehow and figure out why your fainting spells are back. And now, we can't use the return to the past too often, since Xana has figured out a way to gain more power by using it. I'm afraid things are only going to get tougher from here," Jeremy says.

I nod. "We'll get through it... somehow."

 _I just hope in time we'll find the right answers,_ I think.

"So what do we do, about Xana's spectre's possessing you Jeremy?" Aelita asks.

Jeremy puts his hand on his chin,

"I'm not sure..."

"I have a suggestion," I say speaking up. Jeremy looks at me.

"Yes Lila?" he asks.

"Well... assuming Xana's spectre's can only possess people who haven't gone to Lyoko yet..." I trail off, trying to let Jeremy figure it out. His eyes widen.

"Uh huh! No way! I promised myself I'd never step foot on Lyoko again!" Jeremy exclaims.

"Oh come on Einstein, it'll be fun!" Odd exclaims.

"Yeah? For who?" Jeremy asks.

"Us of course," Ulrich replies, chuckling.

"You should Jeremy. Just to build up a little immunity," Yumi says.

Aelita looks at Jeremy, pleadingly. He sighs.

"Fine..." he trails off.

 **Later**

 **In the scanner room**

Yumi, Aelita, and I are in the scanner room. We're waiting by the opened freight elevator for Ulrich, Odd, and Jeremy to return from their trip. The scanners doors finally open, and Jeremy coughs. He steps out of his scanner. Ulrich and Odd step out of their scanners.

"Like I said, never again!" he exclaims.

"Why? What happened on Lyoko?" Aelita asks. Looking at Ulrich and Odd, they smile.

"Jeremy's upset because a Megatank caught him by surprise," Ulrich explains.

"What did he look like on Lyoko?' I ask.

Jeremy, Ulrich and Odd walk to us.

"How should I put this tactfully..." Odd trails off.

"Ridiculous," Ulrich answers for him.

"That bad huh?" Yumi asks.

"I don't want to talk about it. Honestly, I'd rather let one of Xana's spectre's possess me again, then have to deal with going to Lyoko," Jeremy replies. The boys reach us, and they walk inside the freight elevator. We walk in with them, and I press the red button. The freight elevator's doors close, and it starts bringing us up to the factory level.

 **Later that night**

 **In Lila and Aelita's room**

Aelita and I had gone to the bathroom to change from our their day clothes, to our pajamas. We're now in our room. I'm sitting on the chair from my desk. It's a bit awkward since I kept a secret from Aelita. Turning the chair to face her, I look at Aelita. She looks at me and seems a bit upset.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about my super scan program…" I trail off.

"It's okay, you have your secrets," Aelita says.

"I do yeah… it's kind of the burden I have to deal with. Being a time traveler isn't really that awesome," I say.

"I understand Lila," Aelita says, giving me a slight smile, trying to reassure me.

"Thank you, Aelita," I say.

"What do you think Jeremy looked like on Lyoko? Did he ever tell you in the future about going to Lyoko when he was younger?" she asks.

"If he did, I might have forgotten. There's a lot of things I don't remember from my past. The things I do remember are still a bit foggy. They're kind of in pieces, if that makes sense," I reply.

"Ah, I think it does. Shame Jeremy doesn't want to go to Lyoko again. I'd really like to see what he looks like," Aelita says.

"Yeah me too. Anyways, I'm going to go to bed. Have a good night Aelita," I say.

"You too Lila," Aelita smiles slightly. I get up from the chair and go to the ladder. Climbing on the ladder, I reach the top and slip into the bed. Pulling my covers over me, I eventually drift to sleep.

And done

Author's Note: Hi everyone, I discovered a very weird error in this chapter... not even sure how this got here. The error was : Peace is. This. Pieces. Peace is.

I apologize for this inconvenience as it was something I have not seen before in this chapter. It's possible it could have beeban error made when I was typing on my phone trying to update this chapter in the past.

Yes! Jeremy went to Lyoko a bit sooner in this fanfiction! The reason why he did was that Jeremy is the first victim of Xana's possession in this fanfiction, rather than Sissi. So that moment needed to happen sooner. Xana mentioned that he's slowly getting through Mary's security systems. But how... and just how far is he willing to go to get every single stored memory from Mary?

 **Don't forget to review!**

 **LyokoWarrior1994**


	21. Mister Puck

**Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is copyrighted by Moonscoop.**

 **This chapter was written by me and edited by AeroJester203.**

I only own Lila. Mary is owned by **AeroJester203.** Cameron is owned by **Undeadmonkey8**.

 _Mister Puck_

 **Inside Lila and Aelita's room**

 **Late at night**

 **POV Lila's**

Opening my eyes, I hear Aelita screaming. From habit of reacting quickly to any loud noises, I swing myself over the rails of the top bunk and drop down to the floor before my mind catches up. I hurry to her side and gently shake her shoulder.

"Aelita, please wake up. You're having another nightmare."

Aelita opens her eyes and fearfully looks around for a moment before catching her breath. "I'm sorry- I-I-"

"Don't apologize," I interrupt with a shake of my head. "I've had my fair share of nightmares when I first arrived here in this timeline. Mary was always there for me, and I'll be here for you. Tell me about it."

Aelita sits up against her pillow, taking some deep breaths to calm herself before looking at me.

"It's the same dream. I'm in a forest somewhere, I'm an elf. A wolf chases me through the trees and I hide in a hollow one before it finds me and is about to bite. Except... except this time, before the wolf attacked me... I found something. Some sort of treasure chest, with energy in it."

"That's... peculiar, I wonder if the treasure chest is a symbol for something? When did these dreams of yours start?" I ask.

She thinks back,

"I... I think it started when I first found the Hermitage."

"Then that's where we need to go," I decide. "Let's talk to the others about it first thing tomorrow."

"Okay," Aelita says.

 **The Next Day**

 **Vending machines area**

"You want to go _back_ to that place?" Odd asks incredulously. "With the flying knives and everything?"

"That was when Xana possessed the house, Odd," I remind him.

Jeremy adjusts his glasses in thought, "If these nightmares started when you found the house, then it makes sense that we should go back there."

"Let's go, then," Yumi says.

"I'm just, really nervous about going there," Aelita says, stammering a little. Jeremy pats her hand, holding it supportively, making her smile in gratitude.

"We'll be there with you," he says, trying to reassure her.

Ulrich nods confidently, "You can count on us Aelita."

Aelita inclines her head slightly in gratitude,

"Thank you, everyone."

 **At the Hermitage**

Opening the gate to the abandoned house, Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, Jeremy, and Aelita enter the yard ahead of me. I close the gate and follow them to the foot of the stairs. Aelita stares at the house, her legs beginning to shake.

"What's wrong with me?" she asks, looking down at the apparently new sensation.

"Why are my legs shaking?"

"You're scared; it's completely normal," Jeremy answers.

Odd jokingly elbows him, "Yeah, it happens to Jeremy all of the time."

"Does not," he scoffs while lightly pushing Odd away.

"Lame-o."

"Guys, let's focus. Come on Aelita," Yumi says. She holds Aelita's hand as we walk up the stairs and open the door to the Hermitage.

We walk inside and close door the behind us, seeing the plain if admittedly dusty and decrepit foyer. Everything seems quiet with nothing out of the ordinary in sight.

"See, Odd? No flying knives," I say.

He rolls his eyes, "I know, I know. Where should we start?"

I look to Aelita and see that her gaze is somewhat vacant. She suddenly focuses again and let's go of Yumi's hand to climb the staircase in front of us.

"Aelita?" Yumi calls in concern.

When she doesn't answer, Ulrich's eyes narrow slightly at the odd behavior and he waves for the rest of us to move,

"Let's follow her."

In agreement with him, we trail Aelita upstairs to the top floor. Looking around, I see a few doors leading to different rooms—enough space for a family. Aelita makes her way to a specific one, and we run to her when she stops in front of it.

"There's- there's something about this room. I'm not sure, but I think we should go in," Aelita says hesitantly.

"If you're sure Aelita, we trust you," Jeremy says. Aelita gingerly grabs the door knob and turns it, slowly easing the door open with a long squeak of the rusty hinges. We walk in with her in the center since she still appears very nervous.

 _The room was Aelita's room when she lived here…_ I think. _My father used to tell me stories about my mother's dreams… about the men in black, and everything that happened to her and Grandpa Schaeffer. Though he did go by the name of Hopper… I wish I could tell Aelita what these dreams really are. But she needs to learn the truth on her own_.

Looking at the current state of the room, we see that it looks like a tornado tore it apart. The window was smashed, the bed had its sheets stripped off and ripped, and all the small objects were in disarray around the floor. Aelita looks at a desk that managed to survive despite being overturned and trails her fingers along it.

"Everything is so old here... and I can't help but wonder if-" she starts to say before gasping and holding her temples as if she were struck by a sudden migraine.

"Aelita? Aelita are you okay?" Jeremy asks. We take Aelita to the bed and I brush off some of the dust before helping her sit, giving the vision time to pass. She soon let's go of her head and opens her eyes.

"I was saying there might be a connection to this place. If I'm right... something in here is where my dream is leading me to," Aelita says.

As Odd and Ulrich start looking around, I can't help but notice a framed poster of a forest on the wall. Unlike everything else, it managed to survive whatever upended the rest of the room, probably because of its innocent appearance.

"Aelita... you said your nightmare was in a forest, right?" I ask. Once she nods, I turn to the boys,

"Odd, Ulrich? Can you take that poster off?"

They nod and go to the wall standing on each side of the image. Together they carefully take the poster off the wall, revealing a hole hidden behind it.

Aelita's eyes widen, she goes over to the wall and she steps up to reach inside. Once her arm starts coming back out with something, she gasps at the sight of it. Aelita takes the object out of the hole for us to see and holds it before us.

The item is a fabric doll of a purple haired, tan-skinned elf boy with a long blue hat that tapered into a point. Its outfit consists of a white long-sleeved tunic fastened to the left side of its chest in a black line with a clasp that overlapped with the other half. Puffy shorts ended slightly above its knees, leaving its lower legs exposed with curled ankle-high boots on its feet. A long pink sash with tied tassels at the end dangles from its waist and a lighter purple partial shroud hung over its shoulders, being open in the front and back, making it look like it has fanned sleeves.

"It's... Mister Puck," she smiles.

 **In Mrs. Meyer's class**

Aelita stares at Mister Puck, her head on the desk. She holds Mister Puck in her hand.

"This doesn't make sense; how did I know where to look for him?" she wonders.

"I'm not sure," Jeremy replies. "But it does seem your dreams have some sort of connection to the Hermitage."

"I just wish I knew," Aelita says while taking Mister Puck off the desk. She rubs his face while staring contemplatively, as if the doll had the answer.

"Aw would you look at that?" a voice asks. Turning to it, I see that it's Sissi.

She laughs, "She still plays with dolls! What a laugh!"

Abruptly running up to us, Sissi snatches Mister Puck out of Aelita's hands and runs behind a desk.

"No! Give it back!" Aelita exclaims.

I growl, "Sissi, you're going to get it!"

Sissi smirks and passes Mister Puck to Herb, and he throws it to Nicholas at the other end of the room.

"Give the doll back Polikaff," Ulrich says, going over to the somewhat freckled blond.

Odd covers Nicholas' other side, trying to corner him, "Or else you're going to have to deal with us."

"What are you two talking about? What doll?" Nicholas asks as he tosses it to Sissi.

I prepare to vault over the desk between me and Sissi to intercept the flying doll, but another hand snatches it before it's even halfway across. I look to see it's Cameron who has caught Mister Puck.

"Now I'm not particularly fond of people who bully others," Cameron says, he starts walking to Nicholas and Herb, who starts to back up. "In fact, I'm not fond of them at all. But picking on someone who is supposed to be your classmate? That's just low."

He turns to Sissi and glares at her, "There's nothing wrong if a person plays with dolls. Heck, I know a guy who still plays with action figures. Believe me, he's old. And you know what? Some of these "dolls" are worth quite a bit of money, Sissi."

He walks to Aelita and hands her Mister Puck with a smile, "Here you go, Aelita." Aelita looks up to Cameron, and smiles back to him as she accepts her doll back.

"Thanks, Cameron," she says.

The door opens, and Mrs. Meyer enters the classroom.

"What's going on in here? Everyone settle down, now!" Mrs. Meyer orders.

She notices us gathered with Sissi and her group, she gives us a stern look,

"Jeremy, Cameron? Care to explain?"

"Um... see, the thing is Mrs. Meyer-" Jeremy starts, but Cameron interrupts him.

"I was just giving a lesson to the class ma'am. An important one."

"Oh really?" Mrs. Meyer asks. She walks over to her desk and goes to one of the drawers. Opening a drawer, she takes out a stack of papers, and puts them on the desk.

"Well then here's another lesson: pop quiz!" Mrs. Meyer exclaims.

The rest of the class groans. Someone says,

"Thanks a lot Cameron."

 **Vending machines area**

Aelita, Jeremy, Odd, Ulrich, and I are by the vending machines area.

 _Oof… that pop quiz was rough. Though something tells me we would have gotten it either way, even if Sissi and her group didn't cause a commotion,_ I think.

Aelita holds Mister Puck tightly. Cameron walks up to us.

"Hey guys, did any of you lose a train station locker key by any chance?" he asks, holding up a key.

"A train station locker key?" Jeremy asks. Cameron gives the item to Jeremy, and he looks at it closely.

"I wonder... could it have been..." he mutters musingly before his eyes widen in realization.

"Oh, of course! Cameron thanks a million!"

"You're welcome, Jeremy. Aelita, how are you doing? If you need any help with Sissi and her groupies, I'd be more than happy to teach them a lesson again," Cameron offers.

Aelita nods, "Thanks, Cameron. I appreciate that."

"Anytime. Anyways, I'd better get going," Cameron waves his hand goodbye, and starts walking away. Yumi walks up to him and passes by him.

"Yumi, good to see you," Cameron nods, and continues to walk away.

"Uh hey Cameron," Yumi says, nodding. She walks to us and asks,

"What was that about?"

"I believe Cameron just gave us a very important _key_ to this mystery," Jeremy says.

"Ha! Good one Einstein!" Odd laughs.

 **Train Station**

Following the number on the train station key, we reach the locker.

"Would you like to do the honors?" Jeremy asks Aelita. She puts the key in the slot and turns it, opening the locker. Two suitcases are in it. One black and one silver. We gasp. Looking at each case, there are two sets of initials. FH and MB.

 _I know FH stands for Franz Hopper… but I have no idea who MB is…_ I think.

"FH? MB?" Ulrich asks, "What does that stand for?"

"Fuzzy hands? Money Banks?" Odd jokes.

Aelita takes the black suitcase and I take the silver suitcase. Aelita unlocks the suitcase and I unlock the silver suitcase. The black suitcase reveals what looks like cases of CDs. The silver suitcase reveals a sleek looking laptop.

"A laptop? What's a laptop doing in a suitcase?" Odd asks.

"No idea, let me check the CDs first," Jeremy says. He takes one the CDs. He takes his laptop, out of his bag and opens the disk drive. He places the CD in it, and the disk drive closes. He starts typing on his laptop, as a digital folder with the name Franz Hopper appears on his screen.

"Franz Hopper's diary," Jeremy says.

"Great, maybe we'll find out more about the Hermitage's mysterious owner," Yumi says. She puts her hand on Aelita's shoulder. Jeremy continues to type on his laptop, and a few strings of numbers appear on it.

Jeremy narrows his eyes as he analyzes the code, "Not right away. The diary is encrypted; I'm going to have to decode it."

"How much time do you need? One, maybe two hours?" Ulrich asks.

"More like one or two years. Let's see if this laptop holds some good news," Jeremy replies. He takes the laptop out of the suitcase and opens it. Powering it on, it seems to boot up rather quickly and he stares at it before adjusting his glasses.

"Huh, that's... unexpected," Jeremy says.

Ulrich moves beside him, "What is?"

We all gather to look at the laptop and gasp,

"A password? That's it?" Odd asks as we look at eight empty hyphens on the screen. "I was expecting some sort of super firewall."

"An eight-digit code… that's roughly 40,000 combinations," Jeremy says.

I shake my head and correct him, "40,320 to be precise."

"Oof… I'm not sure if I can enter the right code. And there's no way of knowing if this laptop has any security measures…" Jeremy trails off.

Ulrich raises an eyebrow, "Like what?"

"If we enter the wrong code too many times… something might happen," I explain.

"What do you think is on this laptop Jeremy?" Aelita asks.

Jeremy shakes his head, "I'm not sure… There must be some kind of information on it that's valuable, yet not too valuable."

"Well it seems to me whoever this MB person is, he or she must have left it for someone to find," Yumi guesses.

"Should we take it?"

Looking at the laptop, I nod and say,

"Yeah… I'm not sure why, but if it was purposely left in Franz Hopper's locker. I think there must be some sort of connection with him or Lyoko. Jeremy, I'll take that laptop off your hands."

He nods and closes the laptop before handing it to me,

"Sure thing, Lila."

 _I'll find out what's on this laptop… I know I will,_ I think.

"How long do you it will take you to crack the code?" Ulrich asks.  
Looking at him, I say, "I might be able to decode it, but it'll take a while. Less than a year or two though, maybe six months?"

"Six _months_?" he repeats incredulously.

"Math was always my best subject during homeschooling," I idly explain.

"But honestly… I have no idea how long this could take. I can't work on this laptop on a daily basis; none of us have that kind of time. But in case it's important, I'll try to work on it when I can."

"Okay," Ulrich nods.

 **Inside Lila and Aelita's room**

It's late at night. I'm staring at the ceiling, as my thoughts wander about the MB's laptop we found earlier today.

 _An eight-digit coded laptop… So many possibilities… and more mysteries it could be hiding…_ I think.

 **The Next Day**

We're all in Mrs. Meyer's class with her writing on the blackboard. For some reason, Odd appears to be concentrating on the lesson and even taking notes.

 _Odd's concentrating in class? This is new…_ I trail off.

After a while, he raises his hand, "Ma'am, may I be excused?"

Mrs. Meyer turns to him, "Is everything okay Odd?"

"I'm not feeling well ma'am. Can Lila and Aelita take me to the infirmary?" Odd asks.

"Huh?" Jeremy and Ulrich asks.

"Um... very well," she hesitantly answers at the strange request. "But Lila, Aelita, please come back as soon as you can."

Aelita and I get up along with Odd. We walk out of the room and make our way to the nurse's office.

 **In the courtyard**

"Odd what's wrong? Did you finally eat too much?" I joke in an effort to fill the weird silence from him.

Odd stops walking. Aelita and I look at each other, wondering if he took offense to the jab at his eating habits. My instincts also start warning me that something is very wrong with the situation.

"Odd, she was just joking. Tell us... what's wrong?" Aelita asks. Odd turns to us with his head down. He brings his head up and his eyes flicker with Xana's symbol in them as he scowls at us.

"Odd... no!" Aelita gasps. Odd's hands light up with purple sparks, and he launches electricity at us. I react and shove Aelita out of the way while jumping in the opposite direction as the bolts fly past before striking the walls of the school.

Deciding to thank myself later for picking up my exercise again, I rush right at Odd and slide across the ground, taking his legs out from under him along the way. Quickly rolling on top of his back, I pin his hands to the ground, so he can't fire out of them. Xana is very intelligent, but lacks innovation at times, using only the hands as conduits for his possessed victims' electric attacks.

Glancing at Aelita, who's still paralyzed with disbelief, I decide to urge her along.

"Aelita, run!" I call as the possessed boy struggles beneath me. I take my cell phone out of my pocket, and toss it to her. She manages to catch it.

"Text 'SOS Xana' to the others and head to the factory; I'll hold him off!"

"O-okay!" Aelita exclaims, stammering slightly, and holding onto my cell phone, she starts dialing one of the others.

Odd's body becomes black, grey and blurry as his supercharged speed allows him to start struggling at a quicker pace, soon throwing me off.

Having to trust that Aelita followed my instructions, I use the momentum to spin on my shoulders and roll perpendicular to my course as another blast of electricity hits where I landed. Kicking up to my feet, I regard Odd again, who seems angry now.

I make sure to keep myself between him and Aelita's path while saying,

"Now the others will know that you're attacking and stop you."

Odd blurs forward, but I manage to brace myself and grab his waist, angling backwards and suplexing his head into the ground with his own momentum.

I roll away to avoid any counterattack, and Xana turns to his stomach with a growl through Odd's mouth as he supports his upper body with one hand on the ground and an arm under his chest. Slight blood runs down the top of his head from the harsh blow. While keeping my focus, I can't help but wince on the inside.

 _Sorry, Odd,_ I think. _If I damage your body, the spectre is more likely to leave since it can only optimize so much._

As if to prove my point, Odd gets up again, but is a little unsteady from a likely concussion. A few body blows or a bruise to the leg would probably make it evacuate, if the tower doesn't get deactivated first.

"Smith!" Jim yells out from nearby. "What's going on here?! Shouldn't you two be in class?!"

My eyes widen before a black miasma leaks out of Odd. He falls over unconscious. I turn and yell,

"Jim, run!"

But he's stunned at the sight of the spectre and it zooms over to him, enveloping him as he shouts in surprise and pain.

Knowing what's coming next, I hurriedly pull Odd onto my shoulders piggyback style and start running. Xana probably knows that the original plan is lost, so now he'll be coming for us to cut down on our numbers.

I don't hear but so much as feel Xana's eyes trained on me once again as I leave the school to head for cover in the park. It's the only defendable spot where I can have space to fight and possibly get something to fight with. A fourteen-year-old body against a possessed, fully grown and fit – if husky – gym teacher wouldn't end well without some kind of advantage.

 _But I need to be careful not to seriously hurt Jim,_ I remind myself. _We can't afford a return trip on just anything, and if he's injured badly, he might question what happened. I need to stall him._

Once I'm in the trees, I set Odd down near a trunk far away from the entrance and grab a shovel left behind in a wheelbarrow, probably by the groundskeeper.

I then head back to the main path where I know Xana will see me. Sure enough, he arrives at the entrance, the monochromatic aura fading as he stops his dash.

I brandish the tool like a two-handed club and say,

"Bring it on, you lousy computer virus. This is payback for last time."

Jim blurs forward again with a fist reared back, but I duck down to the opposite side and dive away, planting the shovel head into the ground so that I could use the handle as a lever to spin around and stay on my feet afterwards.

He tries to kick me afterwards, but I keep the pole between me and his leg, blocking it by supporting my whole weight behind the grounded tool.

Growling, the possessed man shoots more electricity from his hand, a larger spread than with Odd. I wrench the shovel upward, taking a chunk of the dirt path up and heaving it, creating a gap in the attack from it grounding in the airborne earth.

But Jim's other hand lashes forward and grabs the shovel, wrenching it out of my grasp before throwing it away.

Internally cursing, I backpedal to put some distance between us and head away from the path to the trees opposite of Odd's direction. Jim catches up in an instant with his hand sparking, but I dive and tumble between his legs to dodge an electric blast, taking advantage of my smaller size. Supporting my upper body with my arms after I'm clear, I spring upwards with my feet to land a double bronco kick in his lower back while he's off guard, sending him off balance and lurching forward into the tree he just zapped.

I take that opportunity to run past him and further into the cluster of trees, climbing up one of them and holding still.

Jim walks into the area, eyes looking around with the symbols pulsing. Eventually, he appears to lose his patience and more electricity starts gathering into his hands, forming a large sphere of energy that appears ready to burst and zap the whole park in an effort to find me.

I silently cross my fingers as I edge to the other side of the trunk from him, hoping that I wouldn't have to explain all the damage to the park.

My hopes are answered as the electricity fizzles out and Jim drops down unconscious. I let out a sigh of relief and jump down from the tree, knowing that I will still have to come up with a cover story.

Dragging Jim's unconscious body with a bit of difficulty to a tree and hooking one of his feet so that the toes were over a particularly pronounced root, I start shaking him.

"Jim. Jim!" I quietly call. "Please, wake up!"

He groans and opens his eyes, thankfully clear of the Xana symbol. Narrowing them in slight confusion, he mutters,

"Smith…?"

Then his gaze clears, and he stands up with his arms crossed after brushing the grass and dirt off his face, "Wait… I remember now! You and Della Robbia were causing some kind of trouble at school. You're supposed to be in class!"

"We were on our way to Miss Yolanda's office. He mentioned he wasn't feeling well in class. Then, we ended up fighting, because I said that magenta's a cooler color than purple," I falsely explain.

"After I managed to beat him, you showed up, but I didn't want to get in trouble, so I ran to the park. You tripped on that root there and were out for a bit. But I'll accept responsibility for starting the incident; I'm sorry you got hurt."

"Well, I think Principal Delmas will want to see you about fighting and evading authority," he says, grabbing me around one of the wrists as he leads me back to Kadic.

While he drags me away, I discreetly text the others that Odd is unconscious in the park and that I would be at Delmas's office.

 **Ins** **i** **de the principal's office**

"I must say that I'm very disappointed in you, Ms. Smith," Principal Delmas says with a stern expression. "Starting a fight over such an insignificant reason, I thought that you were smarter than that."

"I apologize, Mr. Delmas," I reply with my head bowed. "I promise it won't happen again."

"See that it doesn't," he warns. "You'll be serving detention with Jim tomorrow afternoon."

"Yes sir."

Once I leave the office and the reception hall, Yumi meets me outside and gestures for me to follow.

 **Later in Jeremy's room**

When we arrive at Jeremy's room, Aelita is sitting on Jeremy's bed while Odd and Ulrich are on the ground the blond with a bandage over his head. Jeremy faces us as we arrive.

I turn to Odd, "Sorry about the head injury. I was trying to force the spectre out of you by making you unconscious. Then it just leaped to Jim when he came. Don't worry, though, I told them that I started it."

"It's cool," he replies easily. "But out of curiosity, what did you say we went at it over?"

"That we were fighting over whether magenta or purple was the cooler color."

"What?" he asks in disbelief. "That's dumb. _Everybody_ knows that purple is cooler."

We share a laugh over the joke before he frowns a bit.

"The bad news is, now that I think about it, I remember destroying those CDs we found right before I went after Lila and Aelita," Odd explains.

Jeremy sighs in relief,

"Phew, is that all?"

"'Is that all?' That's terrible news!" Odd exclaims.

"Not really," Jeremy replies, shaking his head. "Last night when we got back from the train station, I copied the CDs onto a restricted part of the supercomputer. Only I know how to access it."

"Jeremy, you're a genius," Aelita says.

I cross my arms, "I can't help but wonder why Xana didn't go after the laptop we found."

"Maybe the laptop wasn't as much of a threat as Hopper's notes were," Ulrich guesses,

"Seems to me Xana had a problem with them more."

"There's something about this laptop, Ulrich. I can't put my finger on it..." I trail off.

Odd nods, "Yeah, it is strange."

"I'm sure that, in time, we'll find out more about MB's laptop," Yumi reassures.

"We need to be careful, you guys," Jeremy warns,

"Xana is getting more and more powerful, especially since he's been able to possess Odd and me. We need to make sure he doesn't get a chance to possess all of us. If he one day succeeds… then after that, there's no telling what he could accomplish from there. Now it seems any of us are in danger, even with the immunity we thought we would have by going to Lyoko…" he trails off.

I nod agreeing with him, "It's certainly going to get tougher from here on out, Jeremy."

 **Later that night**

 **Inside Lila and Aelita's room**

I'm sitting on my chair from my desk, I look at Aelita. We're both in our pajamas.

"Are you doing okay from what you saw earlier today?" I ask her.

"I am. Took a while to understand that. How are you such a good fighter?" Aelita asks.

"I'm not sure honestly… instinct I guess," I reply.

"Ah okay," Aelita nods. "We should get going to bed right?" she asks.

"Yeah. I don't want Jim to see that we're staying up late. He usually does his rounds right about now. I already gave him enough trouble today," I reply.

"Okay, good night Lila," Aelita smiles.

"Good night Aelita," I smile and go up my ladder. Aelita goes over to shut the light off and she does, she then returns to her bed. Today has a certainly been an eventful day.

 **And done!**

 **Don't forget to review!**

 **LyokoWarrior1994**


	22. Saint Valentine's Day

**This chapter was written by me and edited by AwesomeFanFictionAuthor.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko, all copyrighting goes to MoonScoop.**

 **I only own Lila. Cameron is owned by Undeadmonkey8. Mary is owned by AeroJester203.**

 **Enjoy!**

 _Saint Valentine's Day_

 **Monday, February 13** **th**

 **In Mrs. Hertz's class**

 **POV Lila's**

Mrs. Hertz's class, it's the last class of the day. The clock ticks slowly, mockingly.

 _I'm ready for this class to come to an end,_ I think.

"And don't forget, tomorrow is Saint Valentine's Day," Mrs. Hertz adds.

Aelita and I look at each other, confused.

The bell rings, ending class at last. Jeremy, Odd, Ulrich, Aelita, and I walk out into the halls.

"Um... guys... what exactly is Valentine's Day?" Aelita's asks, lost.

"Uh..." The three boys trail off.

"Lila, do you think you can tell her?" Jeremy asks awkwardly.

"To be honest... I have no idea what Saint Valentine's Day is," I answer, feeling a bit sheepish.

"Oh right... maybe you should ask Yumi then? She might be able to tell you two," Jeremy says.

"Okay...?" I ask.

 _I wonder why they don't just tell us themselves..._ I think.

 **The Next Day**

 **Tuesday, February 14** **th**

"So... what exactly is Saint Valentine's Day?" I ask Yumi. We're in the girl's bathroom. She seems confused for a second, then gives us an understanding look.

"It's the day all lovers celebrate," Yumi explains.

"Huh?" I ask, blushing slightly.

"Lo-lovers?" Aelita stammers. Yumi nods.

"Yes... why? Did some special someones give you something?" Yumi asks.

"Well..." I trail off. I reveal a pink charm bracelet, and Aelita reveals a necklace with a big pink spherical charm.

"Oh," Yumi smiles, looks at Aelita's necklace, and nods. "Tacky, but not bad." She looks at my bracelet, "This is nice, not bad either."

Aelita puts the necklace on, and I put my charm bracelet on my right hand.

"I think I know two people who would want to give the two of you presents, don't you?" Yumi asks.

Aelita and I smile. "Go, go on," Yumi urges. We nod.

 **Outside**

Aelita runs to Jeremy, Ulrich, and Odd. I make my way to the courtyard to search for Cameron. It's pretty empty, but I see a girl, Emily LeDuc, I believe her name is. I don't really know her, but I see her quite often around campus. I think she and Ulrich hung out once, if memory recalls. She's tall, has brown eyes, and dark brown hair. She is wearing rectangle shaped glasses, and usually can be seen wearing a dark red tank top, and under it is usually a long sleeved light pink sweater. She wears a simple pair of blue jeans, along with striped gray and white shoes. I remember a time when Yumi got jealous of her because Ulrich wanted to hang out with Emily. She'd never admit it was jealously though, and it was a while back. Walking up to her, I ask:

"Emily, have you seen Cameron by any chance?"

"Oh, Cameron? Um... yeah, he's waiting by the main gate," Emily replies.

"Thanks," I nod and run to the main gate. It takes me a while to get there, going through the park, and taking one of the trails that leads to the front entrance. Reaching the end of the trail, I finally see him, he's waiting underneath the gate. Walking up to him, I reach him and politely tap him on his shoulder. He turns around, surprised to see me.

"Cameron! I wanted to thank you for the present," I say, smiling.

"Huh? Present? What are you talking about?" Cameron asks. I point to the charm bracelet on my wrist.

"This charm bracelet. I'm not sure how you managed to leave it at my dorm room last night, but-" I start to explain, but notice Cameron is looking down. He seems upset.

"What's wrong?" I ask. Cameron sighs.

"I didn't leave a charm bracelet for you. Whoever did must really have strong feelings for you. As for what's wrong with me? I... I'm waiting for my adoptive parents."

"Adoptive parents?"

Cameron nods, "We're going to, uh... visit my... parents grave, okay? They died in a car accident on Valentine's Day and I'm not particularly fond of this holiday."

My eyes widen.

"I'm sorry... I didn't know..."

He shakes head, "There's nothing to be sorry about. Anyways, shouldn't class be starting soon?" he turns away from me and continues to watch the street for his adoptive parents, as he waits for them.

"Um... yeah, it should be. I'll uh, see you later I guess..." I trail off and start walking back to campus.

 _I wish I knew more about Cameron. If he didn't send me the bracelet... then who did?_ I think.

 **Mrs. Hertz's class**

Jeremy and Aelita are sitting together in class. Odd and Ulrich are sitting together as well. I'm sitting just to the right of Jeremy.

"-Lila and I go to Lyoko?" Aelita asks, but I only hear part of her question. I look over at Aelita and notice something is just a little...off. Jeremy shakes his head.

"It's too dangerous with the Scyphozoa," Jeremy answers. "And Lila's fainting... I'm worried that-"

"Come on Jeremy, please? For me?" Aelita asks, leaning in. She kisses him on the cheek, and he falls to the ground. Our classmates start laughing, minus Ulrich and Odd. My eyes widen.

"What a clutz!" Sissi exclaims, still laughing.

"Jeremy! What do you think you're doing?!" Mrs. Hertz exclaims, "Settle down, everyone, now!" She looks at me.

"Lila, please bring Jeremy to the principal's office at once," she requests. I nod and gather my things. Jeremy gets up, and he and I walk out of the room.

 **Outside the secretary's office**

"Why did Aelita kiss you?" I ask, giving him a serious look.

"Uh - you - you saw that?" Jeremy stammers.

"Yes."

"She wants to go to Lyoko. She knows how to create the antivirus, and a way to unlink you to Xana. Without needing Mary to do it," Jeremy reveals.

My eyes widen,

"She - she knows?"

"Mh-hmm... I should probably go and see Delmas now," Jeremy says. He opens the door, gulps, and enters. I sit down on the floor to wait.

 _It shouldn't be possible... she knows how to create the antivirus and a way to unlink me from Xana? Something's wrong... Aelita would never be so forthcoming as to kiss Jeremy in class. I know her better than that... unless..._ I think.

"Unless Xana's possessed her."

 _I'll wait for Jeremy to leave, then maybe I can talk to him about my suspicions. This would make sense... though... Aelita knows I've been exercising and that I haven't fainted in a while..._ I think.

 **Afterwards**

"Four hours of detention, I've never had this much bad luck," Jeremy mutters to himself, walking out of the Principal's office. He looks down at me,

"What are you still doing here?"

"I, uh, had a bad feeling about something. See, I-"

"Hey," Yumi says. "Aelita told me you guys were here. Sorry about the detention." We look to the side and see Yumi and Aelita approaching us.

"I told Yumi what happened. We decided to meet you here. Yumi will go with me and Lila to Lyoko. Lila's fine with it, right Lila?" Aelita asks, looking at me. I nod, despite feeling a bit uneasy with her.

 _Jeremy wouldn't let her go it alone, so she recruited us. I didn't actually tell Aelita I would sign up for this, but now I don't have that much of a choice…_ I think.

"After everything that's happened today, it would be nice to get _something_ done," Jeremy says, heading towards the park. Aelita looks at Yumi, then looks at me.

 _I really hope I'm wrong…_ I think.

 **The freight elevator**

Aelita, Yumi, Jeremy, and I run into the freight elevator. Aelita's eyes are closed. I can't help but feel threatened by her. The freight elevator reaches the scanner room, and the doors open. Aelita opens her eyes as we walk into the scanner room.

 **Scanner room**

" _Ready ladies? I'm starting the process."_

We get in our respective scanners and the scanners doors close.

" _Transfer: Yumi, Transfer: Aelita, Transfer: Lila."_ Closing my eyes, the scanner starts to spin.

" _Scanner: Yumi, Scanner: Aelita, Scanner: Lila."_ The scanner continues to spin and starts humming.

" _Virtualization!"_

A bright light and wind engulfs me, billowing my hair and time machine necklace. I'm virtualized to Lyoko.

 **Lyoko's Forest Sector**

Yumi, Aelita, and I land perfectly in the forest sector. My broomstick and the Overwing are already materialized.

" _Aelita, Lila? Are you two okay? There were errors in your transfer,"_ Jeremy informs.

"And error? What sort of error?" I ask.

"Sorry, Yumi," Aelita says. She swipes Yumi's legs and kicks her in the stomach while she's falling, sending her crashing into a tree.

" _Aelita?! What's gotten into you?!"_

"Silence, Jeremy!" Aelita orders. She closes her eyes.

"Jeremy?" I ask.

Jeremy doesn't answer.

 _Aelita's cut off communication, somehow,_ I think. Aelita opens her eyes and smirks.

"Why would you do that to Yumi?" I ask.

"Come on, isn't it obvious?" Aelita asks, her eyes flickering with the Xana symbol. I shake my head.

"The necklace... the necklace must be influencing you!" I exclaim.

"That's right," Aelita says in a sing-song voice.

"And what do you think your charm bracelet did to you?"

My eyes widen,

 _What did the charm bracelet do? Am I about to be possessed, too? No, it would have happened already, then… what? What did Xana do to me?!_ I think, taking out my staff, and shifting into a defensive position.

"I don't want to hurt you, Aelita."

"You won't be able to," she taunts and starts walking towards me. I start to chant in Latin.

"Exardesco!" I exclaim. Looking down, I see that for some reason, my amulet isn't glowing.

 _Then... then that means..._ I think.

"Mystery solved, it dampens your abilities on Lyoko," she smirks. Looking over to my broomstick, I make a run for it. Aelita lifts her hand, not even breaking her stride, and materializes a rock, which falls and crushes my broomstick. Suddenly, she disappears.

 _She disappeared?!_ I think. Frantically searching for her. I sheathe my staff and unsheathe my sword.

 _This sword can still do damage… but only if I really need to,_ I think.

"Where did you go?" I ask.

"You forgot to look behind you," Aelita replies, from behind me. Before I can react, Aelita hits my head. I fall to the ground, and I black out.

 **Desert Sector**

My vision is blurry, but I can see Yumi right behind us on her Overwing. I notice we've changed sectors, and we're in the desert sector.

"Lila come on! Try to get away from her!" Yumi calls out as she speeds up on the Overwing. I'm lying down on a Krab, with Aelita standing over me. I try to get myself to my feet, but for some reason… I can't move.

" _Hurry Yumi! Lila can't get away from Aelita for some reason!"_ Jeremy exclaims.

"Yumi-help me! I can't-" I stammer. Aelita looks down at me and kicks me in the head, knocking me out again.

 **Ice Sector**

I hear the firing of what I believe are Krabs. I hear shouting, probably from Odd and Ulrich. Opening my eyes, I realize I'm now in the ice sector.

Several Krabs are behind Aelita, firing at Odd and Ulrich. I look down and notice a faint glow coming from my bracelet.

 _If I can destroy the bracelet then I should be fine. But I don't have the energy to do so... how can I get Ulrich and Odd's attention?_ I think.

"I'm here, with Aelita! Destroy my bracelet!" I exclaim.

"Hurry, you must get us to the Scyphozoa!" Aelita exclaims at the Krab. The Krab starts running, and Aelita jumps in front of me. She starts singing, just as Odd flies his Overboard a little higher. He starts cocking his paw at my bracelet, but Aelita starts creating an ice wall. The ice wall is created, causing a split between Odd and Ulrich, and the Krabs. Odd and Ulrich drive their vehicles and bring them down to the ice wall. The ice wall is tall and wide enough so they can't fly over it, or around it. Getting off them, Ulrich unsheathes his Katana blade and starts attacking the ice wall. Odd uses his paws and feet, as he starts attempting to climb the ice wall. Aelita however, somehow speeds up the Krab even more and we start getting further away from them. The other Krabs remain behind us, just in case Ulrich and Odd succeed in destroying the ice wall.

 **Near an Ice Cave**

Aelita kicks me off the Krab and I take a tumble on the ice, hitting it hard.

"We're here," Aelita calls out. Hearing the Scyphozoa, my heartbeat starts increasing.

"Aelita please, you've got to stop obeying Xana!" I exclaim. She looks at me,

"Like I told Yumi before she was devirtualized, I won't!" she exclaims. The Scyphozoa starts getting closer to her.

 _There's nothing I can do… all because of this stupid charm bracelet!_ I think.

"No, Aelita! Stop!" Odd calls out. He and Ulrich are both running to us as fast they can. Odd is on both paws and feet again, and Ulrich using his super sprint, super speeds our way. Aelita grunts displeased that her ice wall and Krabs failed. I smile.

"Now, what are you going to do?" I taunt.

"Glad you asked. Fail once, you try again," Aelita says. Lifting her hand, she starts singing and starts creating another ice wall.

"No Aelita!" Odd exclaims. He and Ulrich reach us. The ice wall is created, and it's too late. Ulrich and Odd look at me,

"You've got to stop her! It'll take forever to break the ice wall again!" Ulrich exclaims.

"I can't even move!" I exclaim. Looking at the Scyphozoa, it starts moving it tentacles toward Aelita.

" _Aelita!"_ Jeremy exclaims.

"Odd, you've got to climb up here! Hurry!" I exclaim. "Forget about me, and just focus on Aelita!" I tell him.

"Okay, I'll try!" Odd exclaims. Backing up, Odd gets on his paws and feet. He starts running towards the ice wall. Reaching it, he jumps onto the wall and starts climbing on it.

"You okay Odd?" Ulrich asks.

"Brilliant, as usual," Odd replies. Digging his paws into the ice, he continues to climb the ice wall. Ulrich unsheathes his Katana blade and starts striking the ice wall. Odd reaches the top and crosses the top of the wall.

Falling, he lands safely. He runs over to the Scyphozoa.

Aiming his paw at the Scyphozoa, he fires off a few Laser Arrows at the Scyphozoa. The Laser Arrows hit the Scyphozoa, and it stops trying to pursue Aelita.

Odd starts running at Aelita,

"Aelita, stop!" he exclaims. Turning to Odd, Aelita looks at him. Using her creation ability, Aelita's hand starts glowing for some reason and creates ice which freezes Odd's legs.

"Hey! That's cheating!" Odd complains. Ulrich continues to strike the ice wall.

"Jeremy! We're never going to make it!" Ulrich says.

"It's hopeless…" I trail off, looking at Aelita. The Scyphozoa starts reaching for her again. Reaching her, its tentacles take a hold of Aelita and lift her in the air. A red aura surrounds Aelita, as the two tentacles touch her head. They start glowing red. The Scyphozoa starts taking Aelita's memory.

 _"Odd… aim for Aelita,"_ Jeremy instructs.

"Are you out of your mind Jeremy?! He can't do that!" I exclaim.

"She's right! Remember, if Aelita loses all of her life points, she'll disappear forever!" Ulrich exclaims, he strikes at the ice wall again with his Katana.

 _"Xana wants her memory. He won't risk losing that. Deep down, he wants her alive just as much as we do,"_ Jeremy explains.

"I… I think he might be right," I say, unsure.

"Okay…" Odd trails off. Cocking his paw, he aims it at Aelita.

"Here I go," he says. Ulrich watches Odd. And turning away from me, Odd fires off a Laser Arrow at Aelita. The Laser Arrow hits Aelita, which causes her to yelp in pain. The Scyphozoa removes the two tentacles that are attached to Aelita's head. Odd fires off another Laser Arrow at Aelita, since the Scyphozoa is still holding onto Aelita with its other tentacles. It hits her again and she yelps in pain again. The Scyphozoa uses two tentacles to touch Aelita's head, resuming to take her memory.

 _"Only thirty life points left!_ " Jeremy informs.

"You want me to stop?" Odd asks.

" _No! I… I just hope I'm right."_

Odd fires off several more Laser Arrows at Aelita. Each Laser Arrow causes her yelp in pain, and I look away.

 _I'm sorry Aelita… but this is the only way!_ I think.

The Scyphozoa finally decides to let go of Aelita and releases its tentacles. Leaving a few tentacles that are still holding Aelita.

"Xana's given up!" Ulrich exclaims.

Looking at her, I feel somewhat relieved.

"Thank goodness…" I trail off.

"Yes!" Odd cheers.

Looking at the Scyphozoa, the two tentacles reach for Aelita again as the Scyphozoa holds her. Touching her head, the Scyphozoa resumes in taking Aelita's memory once more.

"Uh oh! The Scyphozoa is at it again! It was too good to be true," Odd says. Aiming his paw at the Scyphozoa, Odd cocks it. He fires more Laser Arrows than I can count at Aelita. As each Laser Arrow hits her, it makes Aelita yelp each time. The Scyphozoa is still holding onto her.

" _Only ten life points left!"_

Aiming his paw at Aelita, Odd cocks it. He's about to fire off another one, but finally, the Scyphozoa decides to let Aelita go, and it releases its hold of her and onto the ice. The Scyphozoa retreats and the red aura around Aelita disappears.

"It's okay… it's letting her go," Odd informs. He's still aiming his paw at Aelita. Aelita wakes up, she looks at him.

"Odd, what's going on? Why are you aiming at me?" Aelita asks.

Odd lowers his paw, and we all sigh in relief. Aelita turns to me, her eyes widen seeing me on the ice.

"Lila!" Aelita exclaims. Getting up, Aelita turns to, lifting her hand, she unfreezes Odd. The two of them run over to me and help me up. She turns to the ice wall, and lifting her hand, she starts making cracks in the ice. The ice wall shatters, allowing Ulrich to get to us.

"You two okay?" Ulrich asks, sheathing his Katana blade. We nod.

" _I'm sending you your vehicles. There's a tower that needs deactivating. We'll explain what happened to you Aelita on the way there,"_ Jeremy says.

"Okay," Aelita says.

Our vehicles materialize. Ulrich gets on his Overbike, Odd gets on his Overboard, and I get onto my broomstick.

"Hop aboard Princess," Odd says. Aelita smiles and gets onto Odd's Overboard. We fly to the tower.

 _I'm glad that worked… that was scary…_ I think, looking at Aelita.

 **Ice Sector**

 **At the activated tower**

Our vehicles parked, we get off them. Aelita runs to the tower.

Odd, Ulrich, and I watch Aelita. as she phases into the activated tower's "doorway." Looking at the activated tower, it's red aura soon turns to blue.

 **Afterwards**

 **In the lab**

Aelita takes off the necklace, and I take off the charm bracelet. We throw them to the ground. Yumi crushes them underneath her foot. Among the shattered pieces we find two small cards with gold stripes around them. Jeremy picks them up and notices the Xana symbol on each of them.

"These cards may be a key to understanding Xana better. I'll try and find out if I can analyze them," Jeremy says

"Anyways, Aelita, Lila, from now on you two don't take presents from anyone," Ulrich says.

"Promise," Aelita smiles.

"Me too," I nod.

"If Jeremy hadn't restored the link when I disconnected from him, then Odd, Yumi and Ulrich would have never made it to Lyoko. You saved our lives, Jeremy. I think that's the best present anyone can ask for," Aelita says. Jeremy smiles.

"I wouldn't let anything ever happen to the two of you," he says.

"Einstein might be in trouble though. It won't save him from suspension, for missing four hours of detention. The principal is not going to be very happy about that," Odd says. "But I'm sure there's a solution, right Ulrich?" he chuckles lightly.

"Hey, what are you looking at me for?" Ulrich asks.

"Yeah, why are you looking at him Odd?" Yumi asks.

Odd doesn't reply, he just smiles at them.

 _What is he up to?_ I think.

 **Courtyard**

Odd, Jeremy, Yumi, Aelita and I are outside, in the courtyard.

"I'm really happy to be going to the concert with you Sissi. But, you won't forget to talk to your father beforehand, huh?" Ulrich asks.

"Don't worry. I'll get Jeremy out of this," Sissi reassures. Ulrich and Sissi, walk away from us, holding each other's hands.

"Now that's a real friend, ready to sacrifice himself for a pal," Odd says.

"Are you sure he's sacrificing himself as much as all that?" Jeremy asks, as Ulrich sneakily holds a thumbs up.

"He doesn't seem to be bothered by it," Jeremy says.

"Maybe not, but it was for me he wrote the poem. Poor Sissi," Yumi says, she begins laughing. Aelita laughs with her, and I can't help but feel like I've missed out on something.

 _What kind of poem did Ulrich write for Yumi, that made Sissi believe it was her? I'm sure this won't impact Yumi and Ulrich's friendship. Even with this timeline being different. They're love for each other echoes across time. I really believe Yumi is Ulrich's, true love. No matter what timeline we're in,_ I think.

 **And done! So, the microchip in the show was a forgotten plot hole, but I'll try and input it into this story somehow!**

 **Don't forget to review!**

 **LyokoWarrior1994**


	23. First Mix

**This chapter was written by me and edited by AwesomeFanFictionAuthor.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko, all copyrighting goes to Moonscoop.**

 **I only own Lila. Mary is owned by AeroJester203. Cameron is owned by Undeadmonkey8. Title recommended by Undeadmonkey8.**

 _First Mix_

 **POV Lila's**

 **In the lab**

Aelita, Jeremy and I are in the lab watching Jeremy run a program. He types away on the keyboard, analyzing the data he's collected on the chips.

 _It's hard to believe a week has passed since we discovered the chips inside the necklace and charm bracelet. It's also been a week since I've seen Cameron, and I'm rather worried,_ I think.

"Alright, I think I've finally got something. Only took a week," Jeremy says, giving the computer a stink eye.

"So, what are they exactly?" I ask.

"The microchips are dampeners of sorts," Jeremy explains.

"Dampeners? What do they do?" Aelita asks.

"They weaken you," Jeremy explains, "Think about it. The moment you wore your necklace, you were easily weakened to the point that Xana could control you through the chip. Lila's dampener weakened her to the point where she couldn't use her abilities on Lyoko."

"So, each chip is a dampener, but they work on us differently?" Aelita asks.

"Exactly. What Xana intended to do with them… I have no idea. For that, you'll have to ask Xana."

"Ugh, no thanks," I groan.

"Should we tell the others?" Aelita asks.

"Yes, but until we do, I'd rather secure a safe place to hide them. It's not that I don't trust the others. I do, but… if we were to lose these… that'd be bad for us," Jeremy answers.

"Okay, I think that's fair," I say.

 **A few days later**

 **In the courtyard**

Walking in the courtyard, I spot Cameron on one of the benches. We make eye contact, and I walk up to him.

"How are you doing?" I ask.

"I... I apologize for the way I acted last week. I'm usually not like that," Cameron explains quickly.

"I understand... the truth is... my father and mother both died a long time ago," I tell him, "And my adoptive mother is so busy with her work... it hurts when she's not here. It's really tough on her, being on her own. She raised me as a single parent."

Cameron looks at me and nods, "I'm sorry to hear that." He looks down, thinking, then seems to decide something, and turns back to look up at me. "Whenever I'm feeling down... I like to play some music on my flute."

"Do you only use the flute to relax, or do you also play professionally?" I ask.

"Professionally sometimes," Cameron replies, "In fact, I'm on my way to help Jim and some of your friends set up the gymnasium for the concert tonight. I'll also be playing after the DJ does, whoever that'll be. Would you like to join us?"

"Sure," I nod.

 **In the gymnasium**

Cameron and I walk into the gymnasium. Our fellow classmates and other students are helping move equipment around. Odd and Ulrich are helping as well. Jim is supervising and spots us.

"What are the two of you looking at?" Jim asks, "Are you going to help?"

"Nothing sir, of course, we'll help," I answer. Cameron and I pick up some microphone equipment and bring it to the stage to set up.

"Dunbar, put some leg into it!" Jim exclaims, whistling at him.

 _I really hope there's a way I can avoid having William join the group. I'd rather have Cameron join the group than William. Cameron seems to be more reliable, and besides… he's not as hot-headed as William. I remember Aunt Yumi telling me stories of just how much of a hot head William was when he was younger,_ I think.

He's caught off-guard by Jim and drops a circuit board.

"Dunbar! Now, look what you did! Now we have to find someone to fix it!" Jim exclaims.

"Sorry Jim," William says.

"Jim, I think Aelita would be willing to help fix it," I say.

"Find Stones and bring her back here," Jim nods, giving me permission. He goes back to surveying the gym. Odd and Ulrich look at me, I shrug. I know Aelita would be more than happy to help with fixing the circuit board. After all, my dad once told me she used to play techno music as a DJ.

 **Outside Jeremy's room**

I knock on the door.

"It's open!" Jeremy says.

I open the door, Jeremy is typing away at his computer and Aelita is sitting on the bed.

"Jeremy, would it be okay if Aelita helped fix a circuit board for the concert tonight?" I ask. Jeremy stops typing and turns to speak to me.

"Aelita can go if she wants to, but I'm still trying to analyze those dampener chips. There's tremendous data in these chips, and I just can't analyze them by myself."

"How about this? I'll stay here and help you analyze the data. If Aelita wants to, she can help fix it," I suggest.

"I'll go, after all, it is my choice," Aelita reminds us.

"Of course," Jeremy nods. Odd enters the room, he seems to be out of breath.

"Hey, Jeremy, can Aelita-"

"I'm coming, Odd," Aelita says. She gets up from Jeremy's bed. Odd catches his breath. She and Odd walk out, and Odd closes the door.

"Is everything okay with you two?" I ask.

"This whole concert in the gym... I think it's a waste of time if you ask me."

"Jeremy, everyone can take a break every now and then," I say, sitting on the bed. "I know you're concerned about the chips, and I'm concerned as well. I'm also concerned about MB's laptop, Jeremy. I've already tried multiple combinations for the passcode and nothing's work yet! And I'm just concerned that… there's something strange about this laptop."

"Like what?" he asks, as he stops typing. He turns his chair and looks at me.

"I'm not sure… I feel as if MB is someone special."

"Who?" Jeremy asks.

"No idea..." I trail off.

"Well anyways, I do believe you're the only who can figure out the passcode for MB's laptop," Jeremy says.

"Thanks, Einstein," I smile. He looks at me, surprised.

"That's the first time you've called me that. Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich usually call me that. But, you and Aelita really don't. It's a bit strange hearing you calling me that honestly. To be honest... I keep thinking how strange it is that one day I'll help create Mary since you told me I created her," he says.

"That's true, it does sound weird when I call you that. Well about that... have you ever heard about a book called the _Theories and Quantum mechanics on time travel?"_ I ask him. He shakes his head.

"No, I haven't. What's it about? Besides time travel I mean," Jeremy says.

"Well, basically it's the book you would want to have if you're a time traveler. Honestly… it's almost as if a time traveler invented the book. Though, that can't be possible. But anyways, to summarize the book it basically explains there are multiple timelines, that exists with multiple and different versions of the Earth. We all share the same universe. Though, it also said that if there was a first-time traveler, they would be the one to change everything in the history of _their_ Earth. Creating new timelines in their Earth too, should they ever use a time machine to go back in time and create a new timeline. It would be as if a new branch started to grow on a tree. Though, the one problem I have with this book is that it said a time traveler can't return to the past of their original timeline. _Only_ the present, in which their original timeline is currently in. If that makes sense. So if my timeline is still out there, I'd be traveling to the present time of my timeline, but that's it. Does that make sense?"

He nods,

"Yeah, it does. Do you believe in this?"

"I do. Honestly… I believe my timeline is still out there. That's why I believe I'm not in _my_ timeline's past at all, but rather a second timeline's past. And just because a version of you _may have_ created Mary, that doesn't mean _you'll_ create her. Especially, if I can find a way to destroy Xana completely… it'll mean that this timeline – will have an entirely different future than the one I'm from."

 _It also means should anything ever happen to you or Aelita, I won't blink out of existence. Though... I'll never let anything like that happen, ever,_ I think.

"I think I understand. All the more reason why I want to put our focus on these dampener chips. I know the supercomputer has already analyzed them but I'm double checking on something. If they're truly a danger to us, we need to know. Otherwise, things might change for the worse."

I nod,

"Right, let's get to work then."

Nodding, Jeremy goes back to typing on his keyboard. Getting up from his bed, I go over to his side and watch him type on the keyboard.

 **Later**

 **In Mrs. Hertz's class**

Mrs. Hertz's hands out the first part of our exam, and Jim hands out the second part.

"You have two hours for physics, and then two hours for chemistry. My colleagues and I will grade your papers this afternoon. After that, the principal himself will grade them, and then announce the results," Mrs. Hertz explains, she looks at the clock, waiting for it to be exactly on the hour.

"You may begin."

Looking at the equations, I can tell they are simple ones. I think about them, and start writing down the answers.

 _Those dampener chips Jeremy and I analyzed... I hope they're not too dangerous,_ I think.

 **In Lila and Aelita's room**

 _That exam was so easy! Though, I can't help but wonder if being an artificial intelligence means that I'm cheating? It's not like I have a photographic memory or anything. So, I guess, in a way, I'm not cheating after all,_ I think, as I sit in my chair and listen to some relaxation music. I turn up the volume on the music pod.

 **Later**

I walk to Jeremy's room, but before I can get there, Aelita throws the door open and storms out of there.

"You're as stubborn as a fool!" Aelita exclaims, slamming the door behind her.

"It's as stubborn as a mule!" Jeremy exclaims back. Aelita walks towards me.

"What happened? Are you two doing okay?" I ask.

"Jeremy needs to know when to take a break," Aelita replies, and walks by me.

I look back at her for a second, then shrug and knock on the door.

"Who is it?" Jeremy asks.

"It's Lila, may I come in?" I ask. A few seconds later, Jeremy opens the door.

"You're not going to the concert?" he asks.

"I... I have too much on my mind," I reply. He gestures me in and in I go.

 **Later that evening**

Jeremy and I are taking turns analyzing the chips info structures. The chips are mostly identical, but suddenly, I spot a difference between their data.

"Jeremy, do you see this? The correlating data here and here?" I point to one window, then to the other. Jeremy's eyes widen.

I give him the keyboard. He starts typing and brings up another window.

"Unbelievable... they're not just dampeners. They're worse than we thought. Yes, they can weaken you… but what the supercomputer didn't show is if they're left on you long enough… you can lose your free will entirely. Xana wouldn't even need to bother with possessing you with one of his spectre's. You'd become his puppet," Jeremy says.

"I've never seen technology like this in my future. I wonder if-" I start to say but Jeremy shakes his head. He exits the program. He takes the chips out of his desk drawer and throws them to the ground, crushing them.

"There. Hopefully, Xana won't recreate them. They're too much of a threat."

"Well... that's one way to handle them, I suppose..." I mumble. "Well, how about we go to the concert? I'm sure Aelita would happy to see you, Jeremy."

"Okay... I might as well," Jeremy says.

 **In the gymnasium**

Jeremy and I enter the gymnasium. Aelita's DJing, but she finishes her set just as we're walking in.

"Give it up for Aelita Stones! She did a great job!" The student announcer exclaims through the mic. The crowd cheers and Aelita sees us. She smiles and walks off the stage to meet with us.

"I'm glad you're here Jeremy - I'm - I'm sorry about our fight," Aelita says. Jeremy shakes his head,

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. We have some news about the chips."

"News? What news?" Aelita asks.

"Let's go somewhere more private where we can talk. We'll tell Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi tomorrow. They look like they're having fun," Jeremy replies. We look at Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi who are dancing to a song a new DJ has put on.

 **Outside the gymnasium**

Jeremy's finished explaining what he and I find out about the chips.

"I see... So Xana had the capability of controlling us through the chips if left on long enough," Aelita says. Jeremy nods.

"Yes, that's right. He did the same thing to you after all, but luckily we removed them in time. I fear if Lila's dampener chip was left on her long enough, it most likely would have possessed her too. But after we found out how much of a threat the chips were, I crushed them. Xana shouldn't be using them any time soon."

"That's a relief," Aelita sighs.

"What's a relief?" a voice asks from behind us. Turning to it, I see it's Cameron, holding his flute.

"Cameron, are you going on next?" I ask.

"Yes... right after I take care of something," he replies. He closes his eyes, as if he's nervous about something, then opens his eyes and they flicker with Xana's symbol.

My eyes widen.

"Cameron... oh no..." I trail off.

"He's been possessed!" Aelita exclaims.

Cameron puts his flute to his mouth and sounds a long, discordant note. A sonic wave emanates from it, sending Jeremy, Aelita, and I flying into the door of the gymnasium.

 **In the gymnasium**

The doors fly open, and the three of us fly back, landing on the floor hard. The music stops as Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich run over to us.

"What happened?" Ulrich asks. Some of the students start murmuring, and Jim runs to us.

"What's going on?" Jim asks, reaching us. Ulrich and Odd help Jeremy up, Yumi helps Aelita up. I manage to get up on my own.

"Ulrich! Cameron's been possessed!" I exclaim, pointing to Cameron, who's walking into the gymnasium.

"Odd and I will handle him. Yumi, Aelita, Jeremy, Lila. Head to the factory! Use the shortcut here in the gym!" Ulrich exclaims, getting ready to fight.

"Yeah, we'll handle Cameron," Odd nods.

"Okay, let's go!" Ulrich exclaims, he and Odd run at Cameron.

"Stern, Della Robbia! What in blazes do you think you're-" Jim starts, but Cameron plays another tune, unleashing another sonic wave. Jim covers his ears and ducks. Jeremy's glasses start to crack.

"My- my- glasses! We need to leave, now," Jeremy says.

"Right let's go!" Aelita exclaims.

 **Inside the freight elevator**

Yumi, Jeremy, Aelita, and I are inside the freight elevator. The freight elevator's hangar door closed, I press the bottom red button and the freight elevator goes down.

"How's your sight?" I ask.

"It's fine, thanks. I'm going to transfer you three as close as I can to the tower. I'm not sure where it is yet, but once the activated tower is pinpointed, we'll need to be-" Jeremy explains. He gasps suddenly, his glasses cracking further in a delayed reaction. He starts to keel over, taking his glasses off just in case they shattered completely. But his glasses fall out of his hand and onto the floor of the freight elevator.

"Jeremy!" Yumi, Aelita, and I exclaim. The three of us catch him, and I pick up his glasses.

 **In the lab**

Aelita runs into the lab and sits on Jeremy's chair. Yumi and I carry Jeremy over to the wall, we lay him down gently in a vertical position so he doesn't fall on his side. He's unconscious, and Yumi has his cracked glasses in her pants pocket.

"I'm going to have to stay here and protect Jeremy," Yumi says, "If Xana attacks, he'll have to get through me first."

"Thanks, Yumi," I say.

"I'll activate the return to the past after I've deactivated the tower. If need be, it can be activated by a person's voice. It's something Jeremy rigged up," Aelita explains. Looking at the computer, I see the super scan program confirms the activated tower.

"I found the tower. Desert sector."

"Right. Yumi can you keep an eye on Jeremy for me?" I ask.

"Me too," Aelita says. She starts typing on the keyboard, and a countdown window of one minute and thirteen seconds pops up on the screen. It starts going down.

"The self-virtualization is all set. We haven't got long," Aelita says.

"Right," I say.

I go over to the ladder shoot, as Aelita gets up from the chair and she runs over to me. Climbing down first, she follows me after, so that we can be virtualized to Lyoko.

 **Lyoko's Desert Sector**

Aelita and I land in the Desert Sector. We land safely. Looking at the plateau, we see the tower. It's at least a yard away.

"Any monsters insight Yumi?" Aelita asks, and we start running to the tower.

" _The monitors aren't showing any. I'm keeping an eye on Jeremy like you and Lila asked. I'll let you know if any popup,"_ Yumi replies.

"Thanks, Yumi," I say.

"Xana choosing Cameron… why? Because he's our classmate?" Aelita asks.

"I'm not sure. Xana doesn't really need a reason," I reply.

"That's true," Aelita replies.

Hearing buzzing coming from behind us, Aelita and I turn around to see four Hornets.

" _Aelita, Lila! You've got four Hornets and Kankrelats coming your way!"_ Yumi exclaims. Taking out my staff, I look at the Hornets. They start charging their lasers. Looking to the side of us, we see three Kankrelats moving towards us.

 _We're completely surrounded! I'll need to use my Blackout spell!_ I exclaim.

"Praeumbo," I chant. My amulet starts glowing black, and the world turns grey. Everything slowing down, I look around me and see the Hornets buzzing above us.

 _I don't have a lot of time… so how am I going to take care all of them at once? Hm… Oh, that might do it. Yeah, let's try this…_ I think. Gripping my staff, I start chanting:

"Exardesco, Exardesco, Exardesco," My amulet maintains the blackout spell as it lets me know my staff is charged up. Swinging my staff, I unleash three Fire Bolts at the Hornets first. The Fire Bolts make their way to the Hornets. Reaching them, they hit the Hornets and the Hornets explode. Turning to the Kankrelats, who are at least a good feet away, I get in front of Aelita who is sort of frozen in time. I see that my amulet is starting to return to normal, and the blackout spell's time is almost up.

"Exardesco! Exardesco! Exardesco!" I exclaim, unleashing another three Fire Bolts at the three Kankrelats. The three Fire Bolts hit the three Kankrelats are hit one by one, and the three Kankrelats start exploding. My blackout spell stops, and the world returns to normal.

Aelita sees the late explosions. The kankrelats were thankfully not close enough to harm her or anything.

Her eyes widen.

"That blackout spell of yours Lila… it's very uh efficient," Aelita says.

"Yeah, it is," I say, sheathing my staff. Aelita and I start making the rest of the way to the tower.

Finally reaching it, Aelita runs up to the tower. She slowly enters it, phasing into the tower's "doorway."

" _Lila… how do I start a return to the past?"_ Yumi asks.

"Aelita mentioned Jeremy rigged it up to be voiced activated. I assume it _might_ be in his and her's voices only, that the program will accept. Though I could be wrong. Let's wait and see once Aelita deactivates the tower," I reply. Looking at the tower, the tower's red aura turns to blue.

Looking ahead of me, I see the big white bubble heading for us. It engulfs everything, sending us back in time.

 _I guess I was right,_ I think.

 **Earlier that day**

 **In Lila and Aelita's room**

Opening my eyes, I realize I'm in mine and Aelita's room. I'm listening to my music pod. Turning the music pod off, I get out of my chair and go to the door. Opening it, I close it and then make my way to the boy's dorm floor.

 **Upstairs**

Aelita is already walking out of Jeremy's room. She closes the door and walks up to me.

"Is everything okay this time, Aelita?" I ask. Aelita nods and smiles.

"It will be. Jeremy's destroyed the chips again. And he's promised he'll go to the gymnasium."

 **Later that night**

 **In the gymnasium**

"Let's give it up for Aelita stones!" The student announcer exclaims. Aelita walks up to the stage. Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi walk up to Jeremy and me. Aelita puts the headphones on and connects the mixing board, then she starts to play her techno music.

"I'm glad you're here!" Yumi exclaims.

"How did the trip to Lyoko go?" Ulrich asks.

"Good, how was Xanafied Cameron?" I ask.

"He was uh..." Ulrich and Odd trails off. "Difficult," the two boys answer at the same time.

"Difficult how?" I ask.

"He's a tough fighter," Ulrich replies.

"And that enhanced flute of his really packed a punch," Odd adds.

"That's for sure," Ulrich agrees.

"Maybe one day we can recruit him as a Lyoko Warrior. But until then, let's just listen to Aelita's music," I say.

"Aelita's really amazing, isn't she?" Jeremy asks. We start to dance, and Aelita looks up at us and smiles.

 _She sure is Jeremy... she sure is,_ I think.

Looking around, I can tell that everyone is enjoying Aelita's techno music. Jim, Milly, Tamiya. Even Sissi, Herb, and Nicholas seem to be enjoying the music. Looking at Cameron, I see that he's dancing to the music in a corner with some classmates and Emily LeDuc. Going over to him, and his classmates, I reach him.

"Hey, Cameron!" I exclaim since the music is pretty loud. He stops dancing and looks at me. He smiles.

"Oh, hey Lila, what's up?" Cameron asks.

Feeling I'm starting to blush from embarrassment, I ask him:

"Would… would you want to dance with me?"

He nods.

"Sure! I'll see you guys in a bit," Cameron says, telling his classmates and Emily. They and Emily nod. Going over to a free spot on the dance floor, I look at Cameron and he looks at me. We start dancing to Aelita's techno music. I smile at him.

"I'm on next but thanks for asking me to dance with you. Hopefully, I won't totally suck at playing the flute in front of you and the rest of my peers," Cameron worries.

"Trust me, I think you'll be okay," I smile. He smiles back.

"Thanks," Cameron smiles.

"Anytime," I say.

 _Not sure what it is about this guy… but he makes me happy,_ I think.

All of us continue dancing as we dance away to Aelita's techno music. For once, we're going to dance the night away to a ton of music and enjoy ourselves. After all, everyone deserves a little break now and then.

 **Don't forget to review!**

 **LyokoWarrior1994**


	24. The Missing Link: Part 1

**This chapter was written by me and edited by Undeadmonkey8.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko, all copyrighting goes to Moonscoop.**

 **I only own Lila. Mary is owned by AeroJester203. Cameron is owned by Undeadmonkey8.**

 **Enjoy!**

 _The Missing Link: Part 1_

 **In the scanner room**

 **POV Lila's**

Aelita, Ulrich, Odd, and I are all in the scanner room waiting for Yumi. Recently, I've been wearing my time machine necklace over my shirt rather than underneath it. I've gotten a few stares from a couple of students on campus since it is a weird looking necklace to some. But I've been passing it off as an old family heirloom to the students who had asked about it, and to Cameron. He was a bit curious too. Shame I can't tell him the truth. Though, there are times when I zip up my jacket when I want to, and on occasions so that the necklace does not get in the way. Like exercising as an example.

Honestly, though it looks better over my t-shirt. I only wear it underneath my t-shirt when I go to sleep, and of course, I never wear it when I shower. I keep it safe in mine and Aelita's room, in one of my drawers. It's a great thing that we have a lock. No one has bothered stealing from us yet, despite the lock being on the outside of our door, and the fact that it's not a door lock that comes with a key. Something the school should probably invest in.

Staring at the scanners, Yumi still hasn't arrived yet.

 _"What can Yumi be doing? We have to get some data out of Sector Five,"_ Jeremy says.

"It's not like her to be late," Ulrich says, a bit concerned.

"Maybe she's with William," Odd jokes.

"Hm?" Ulrich asks, shooting a glare at Odd.

"I said maybe," Odd replies.

"By the way Jeremy, have you made any headway on the antivirus?" Aelita asks.

 _"Well... actually, it's going rather slow. I'm missing a lot of important codes."_

Aelita closes her eyes, slouching her shoulders. Odd puts his hands on her shoulders, trying to comfort her. I look at the floor.

 _It stinks that we need to free Mary to get her to unlink me… who knows how long that will take? And who knows how much longer Aelita will be linked to Xana? It could be for a while, for all we know,_ I think.

"With a little luck we'll find the antivirus today, and who knows? Maybe we'll destroy the Scyphozoa today too," Odd says. Looking at me, I can tell he's trying to reassure the both of us.

"And then it's ciao, Xana. We'll finally be able to shut the supercomputer," Ulrich adds.

"Xana's not going to give her up without a fight," I say.

"Well, if it's a fight Xana wants; it's a fight he'll get," Ulrich smiles.

"Yeah! I'm always up for fighting Xana and his monsters!" Odd exclaims enthusiastically.

 _"I'll start the procedure then. We're going to have to forget Yumi for now. Aelita, Lila, would the two of you like to go in first?"_

"Sure," I reply.

Aelita and I step into our respective scanners. Aelita takes the middle scanner, and I take the right scanner.

 _"Transfer: Aelita, Transfer: Lila,"_ Jeremy begins. The doors close. I close my eyes.

The scanner starts to spin.

 _"Scanner: Aelita, Scanner: Lila."_ The scanner continues to spin and starts humming. I wait for the bright light and gust of wind.

"Virtualization!"

The bright light and gust of wind engulf me. I can feel the wind lifting my time machine necklace just a little over my shirt. The wind billows my hair, and I'm virtualized to Lyoko.

 **In the Forest Sector**

My vision returns to see Aelita and I fall. We safely land in the Forest Sector. Looking up, we see Odd and Ulrich virtualizing as they land safely.

 _"Now, head for the edge of the sector okay?"_

We're about to leave, as we look up to see Yumi virtualized. She lands safely.

"A little longer and we would have started the party without you," Odd jokes.

"Where were you?" Ulrich asks.

Yumi doesn't look at him, "I had something to take care of."

"Yeah right. You were with William, weren't you?" he asks.

Yumi turns to him, "Huh?! Hey, don't you get tired of being jealous all of the time?" she asks.

"Ha ha! I knew it, you were with him!" Ulrich exclaims. Odd and I look at them.

"You can believe whatever you want! Be a jerk if you want too!" Yumi exclaims.

"You must think I'm really dumb," Ulrich says.

 _"Careful you have visitors,"_ Jeremy informs.

"Hey, settle this later okay?" Odd asks.

"Yeah come on guys, let's get to work," I reply and take out my staff.

"Aelita take cover," Ulrich gestures. Aelita nods and runs to take cover behind a tree.

Four kankrelats move toward us. Odd readies his Laser Arrow and cocks his arm, Ulrich unsheathes his Katana, readying it. Yumi readies her fans, a second addition recently created by Jeremy. I start chanting in Latin.

"Exardesco!" I exclaim. My amulet glows, and I swing my staff. A Fire Bolt flies out of it. It flies towards a Kankrelat, but then the Kankrelats start moving to the right as a group, making me miss.

One of the Kankrelats charges its laser. It fires its laser at Odd, he dodges it. One by one, they begin opening fire, forcing us to scatter.

"Laser Arrow!" Odd exclaims and fires off a Laser Arrow. The Laser Arrow flies and hits the Kankrelat, it explodes. Yumi jumps in the air and throws her Tessen fans. The Kankrelat moves and the fans miss their target.

 _Man, what is up with these guys today?! They're quick on their legs!_ I think, and aim my staff at one of the Kankrelats.

The Tessen fans return to Yumi and she catches them. She jumps before jumping back into the air dodging to dodge another the laser from the Kankrelat. Ulrich blocks the lasers with his Katana, covering me as I start chanting.

"Exardesco! Exardesco! Exardesco!" I exclaim.

Ulrich gets out the way. The kankrelats start charging their lasers at me. My amulet glows, letting me know my Fire Bolts are ready. Swinging my staff, I send three Fire Bolts at the Kankrelats. Each Fire Bolt destroys the remaining three. Ulrich puts his Katana away and I put my staff away. As Lyoko quiets, we relax.

I hear a strange noise and start following it. I hear the others fighting monsters in the distance, as it sounds like more have arrived and started attacking them. My hearing starts to decrease, and I look to see a swarm of tentacles. They grab me and lift me in the air. The tentacles touch my head. My vision starts to blackout. They wrap around my body entirely and everything goes black completely.

 **Afterwards**

Coming to, my vision starts to come back and I see Aelita.

"-you okay?" I partially hear Aelita ask.

I nod. Aelita and Ulrich help me up. Odd and Yumi run to me.

"Lila, are you going to be okay? Jeremy, what should we do?" Yumi asks.

"I- I- think I'm fine," I answer, stammering a little. "What happened anyhow?"

"The Scyphozoa grabbed you. One minute you were with us, and the next you weren't. It was as if you were in a trance," Aelita explains.

 _"We're going to stop the mission. I need to understand why Xana went after Lila. Aelita, there's a way tower due north of you. I'll use Code: Earth program to bring you in first, then the others will go,"_ Jeremy says. Aelita, Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich look at me, concerned.

"We'll need our vehicles for that Einstein," Odd says.

" _Way ahead of you Odd,"_ Jeremy says as the Overbike, my broomstick, Odd's Overboard, and Yumi's Overwing materializes next to us. Getting on them, Aelita gets onto my broomstick with me. I kick the broomstick into the air, as the others take off too.

 _I really hope Xana didn't do anything to me…_ I think concerned.

 **At the way tower**

Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, Aelita, and I get off our vehicles. Staring at the way tower, that has a blue aura around it, Aelita runs to the tower. She walks up to it and slowly enters it. She phases into the tower's "doorway." Looking up, Jeremy soon says:

" _Code: Earth."_

We look at each other and nod.

 _"Materialization: Ulrich, Materialization: Odd, Materialization: Yumi."_

Ulrich's materializes first as Odd's body materializes after him. Yumi's body is materialized last.

" _Materialization: Lila."_

For some reason, I'm still on Lyoko.

 _This is not looking good…_ I think.

"Uh, Jeremy did you hit the wrong button or something? I'm still here."

 _"Maybe - maybe I typed in the wrong code for you? Give me a second..."_

 _"Materialization: Lila!"_

I look at my body to see that I'm still here on Lyoko.

"Uh, Jeremy... I hate the be the bearer of bad news but-"

 _"I know! For some reason - Lila I can't devirtualize you!"_

"Should I go into the way tower?" I ask.

 _"Yes. You can stay inside there for now, until we figure this out,"_ Jeremy answers.

Looking at the way tower, the vehicles materialize, as they depixelize one by one. I run to the tower. I slowly walk to it, phasing into the tower's "doorway."

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside the tower**

Sitting on the tower's platform, crossed legged, the platform lights up.

 _"Don't worry, you're safe in the tower,"_ Jeremy says.

"I'm not worried about Xana trying to get to me Jeremy. The kankrelats earlier were probably just trying to give me a warning shot, before they were destroyed. And, he can't kill me without ultimately killing himself," I remind him.

 _"I know but-"_

"Look if anything I'm sure you and Aelita will find the reason why the Scyphozoa grabbed me. The only thing is-" I start to say, but then I gasp.

"Oh no."

 _"Oh no, what?"_

 _If I could feel my cheeks blushing on Lyoko, that's how I feel now. They're going to tease me about this!_ I think.

"I uh... I promised I'd hang out with Cameron today."

 _"You mean like a date?"_ Odd asks, he seems to have gotten a hold of the headset.

 _"Odd! This is serious if Lila can't materialize she'll miss school and if she misses school Delmas will suspend her! I'm sure she doesn't have a date with Cameron."_ Jeremy says.

 _Gee thanks Jeremy_ , I huff. "Jeremy, it's not a date. If it was a date keep in mind I would be furious with you right now for doubting me."

 _"Uh... sorry?"_

 _"Lila, Odd and I will go and search for Cameron. Yumi needs to leave for her 9th-grade class photo. It's, today right?"_ Ulrich asks, Yumi I assume.

 _"I forgot all about it! Thanks Ulrich! Lila, Odd and Ulrich will handle it like they said. Don't worry you have Aelita and Jeremy, they'll figure it out."_

"Thanks, Yumi. I just hope they'll get to Cameron. I'm supposed to meet him by the park bench."

 _"See! It is a date!"_ Odd jokes.

"Odd!" Jeremy and Aelita exclaim at him. I can't help but laugh a little.

"Okay... so in all seriousness, how do we find out what's wrong with me?" I ask.

 _"By launching a digital analysis. You'll need to stand on the platform. Then I'll start it,"_ Jeremy replies.

"Okay," I say. Standing on the platform, I position my arms and legs in a way they don't interfere with the analysis. My body hovers a bit off the platform, as a wide green ring starts scanning my body.

 **POV Cameron's**

 **In the Park**

Checking my adoptive father's watch I brought with me today, I check the time and note that it's a bit past noon.

 _I hope Lila is okay... wonder what's keeping her, I was looking forward to - No! No, bad Cameron, she's allowed to be late, this isn't a date or anything!_ I think.

I take my phone out and wait to see a text from Lila but still nothing.

"Cameron, right?" A voice asks. Looking up, I see Odd Della Robbia is with his friend Ulrich Stern.

"Yeah. Ulrich and Odd, right? I've seen you guys hanging out with Lila - any chance you know where she is?"

"We do yeah. Listen um..." Odd looks over to Ulrich who coughs.

"Lila can't make it today. She's um with her mom." the Brunette boy explains.

"Is everything okay?" I ask with concern.

"Uh yeah I mean it's just one of the business trips Lila has to go on once in a while. It happens suddenly too," Ulrich continues to explain. "And she's uh... sorry for missing out on your date."

I choke and glance around before glaring at the two of them. Judging by Odd's grin, my blush is making the attempt less than successful.

"Listen up, Stern - one, it's not a date, we're just friends. Two, could you let her know I'm happy to reschedule when she gets back?"

"I will, Cameron," Ulrich says. He and Odd walk away.

My eyes narrow, cogs spinning furiously in my mind, Lila wouldn't have sent them to tell me, she would have sent a text. Something's wrong here . . . and I've been lied to often enough to spot one that blatant.

Ulrich and Odd start running once they're past the tree line, and that makes up my mind. Keeping up with them isn't a problem, but moving quietly and avoiding their glances back makes the journey challenging. I've had experience in this sort of trip, though, and neither of them knows I'm there when they come to a sudden stop.

It's a clearing - pretty deep in the park, where I've never been before. Lots of trees and bushes to hide behind, and I take advantage of the cover when Odd checks the area as Ulrich kneels, grabbing at something.

"Cameron's a cool guy," I hear Odd say. His eyes sweep across my hiding spot, but he continues without pausing, "wish we didn't have to lie to him about it."

"He's just a classmate Lila is into," Ulrich responds, and my cheeks heat up so fast I'm shocked the bush doesn't catch fire. He says something else, but I miss it, focusing too much on not giving myself away with a cheer.

"She will kill you if she finds out you said that," Odd says, and even with his back turned to me, I can hear him grinning.

Ulrich shrugs, then grunts and hauls something out of the ground - a sewer cover? No, it sounds like a sewer grate. What could they need to get into the sewers for? Odd begins climbing down, and Ulrich follows, settling the grate back into place.

 _So . . . Lila is into me,_ I think, biting my lip and repressing the urge to do a fist pump.

 _Didn't know that_. _Wait, does that mean she thought today was supposed to be a date? Should I have bought her a present today or something? Focus, Cameron. Sort this out later. With Lila. At a cafe or something,_ I think.

And I'm off track again, gonna lose them if I let them get any further ahead.

The clearing is quiet as I slip out of the bushes. The grate is heavy - hauling it up and then replacing it quietly with one hand makes me question whether I'm doing enough pushups. Fortunately, the sound of rushing water is loud enough that my footsteps can go unheard - the sound of wheels and shouted conversation, however, is just loud enough that I can follow Ulrich and Odd's trail.

A foreboding feeling lurks in the back of my mind, but I push it away, too curious to care. Time to get some answers.

 _And maybe ask Lila if she has a favorite coffee place - FOCUS CAMERON!_ I think.

 **POV Lila's**

"Well... at least I don't have to take a class photo like Yumi has to. Jeremy did you and Aelita find out what's wrong with me?" I ask, still hovering above the platform. The wide green ring finishes its job and disappears. Looking down, I'm lowered to the platform and I'm back on my feet.

 _"Um... we did and it's not good Lila,"_ Jeremy answers. _"The digital analysis has revealed that Xana's taken your sequence code, for your human DNA._ _Can't materialize you without it, and you're as vulnerable as Aelita."_

I sigh, "That... would make sense. But now that means if Xana attempts to capture me with the Scyphozoa again, he'd be able to get whatever he's looking for, while I'm stuck here on Lyoko! And there's no telling what Xana could be looking for, it could be anything! Jeremy is there anything you can do?'

 _"Don't worry I'm doing everything we can Lila. We'll figure this out."_

 _"Jeremy - send me to Lyoko. I have an idea,"_ Aelita says, through the headset.

"What's your idea Aelita?" I ask.

 _"You two will just need to trust me,"_ Aelita replies.

 **POV Cameron's**

Sunlight, as it turns out, is very nearly blinding when you've been dashing pell-mell through the sewers trying to keep up with a pair of hooligans on skateboards. That said, it only takes a moment for my eyes to adjust, and a look around shows me the abandoned factory on the river. Odd and Ulrich are leaping over some edge, falling out of sight, and I hurry after them, not wanting to lose the trail.

As I get closer, I can see that they slid down a pair of cable wires? Or ropes? I'm not entirely sure. There's four of them. But it doesn't appear to be a short jump. The sight of the drop has my vision swimming, but I grab one of the ropes, close my eyes, and slide down.

 _OH GODS THIS WAS A MISTAKE!_ I think until I land much harder on the ground than I expected. I open my eyes and find Odd and Ulrich staring at me in shock from a freight elevator, and for a moment, all three of us are still.

Then Ulrich punches a button, and the door begins to slide down. I break into a mad dash, heels cracking against the cement floor of the factory, and not quite for the first time. I find myself wishing I had worn tennis shoes instead of cowboy boots. If I start running more often, I'll need to look into buying a pair of tennis shoes.

The freight elevator's hangar door is more than halfway shut, and I drop, sliding on my hip. I can feel the edge tug at my hair, and then I'm safely inside. Odd and Ulrich dodging out of the way of my slide with yelps of surprise. They seem shocked I made it inside the freight elevator. The freight elevator's hangar door closes.

"Cameron! Why were you following us?" Ulrich asks.

"Why? Well- no offense, Ulrich, but you and Odd cannot lie successfully. I'd offer to help, but you might actually trick me next time. So, your turn - where are we, where's Lila, and before you answer, do you really think that I won't catch you if you try to lie this time?"

"You wouldn't believe us even if we told you the truth, Cameron," Odd explains.

I smile grimly and take no small satisfaction in the way they exchange a nervous glance.

"Try me."

 **In the lab**

The freight elevator reaches the lab, as the doors open, revealing the lab in its entirety.

"Okay, so. . . this place is pretty awesome," I say, turning to take in the Lab. There's the holosphere, which is a large wide case and displayed over it appears to be a hologram of the world Lyoko. Looking at the mainframe that connects to the supercomputer, I see Jeremy sitting in a yellow chair, and there's a headset on his keyboard, as he's typing.

"This place is cool," I say.

"Cameron?!" Jeremy exclaims, turning to look at me. He stops typing. "What are you doing here?"

"He followed us," Ulrich rubs the back of his head, "We uh, were busy talking, didn't notice him."

"Besides which," I say with a note of satisfaction, "I am very good at not being noticed when I don't want to be. Makes for some interesting conversation starters."

"Relax, Jeremy," Odd says, "A return to the past will fix it. By the way, where's Aelita?"

As if the girl's name is a trigger, Jeremy swivels back to the computer and resumes typing hastily.

"She's on Lyoko - she cut communications, so I can't stop her, but she's transferring her DNA sequence code to Lila! I don't think she realizes that doing this will give Xana a golden opportunity to swipe her memories without needing the Scyphozoa - it'll leave her completely vulnerable!"

"Okay, we get the picture. Send Odd and I to Lyoko, we'll stop her," Ulrich says, he and Odd already stepping into the elevator. Ulrich presses a button and the freight elevator's doors close. It descends to the room below us, the scanner room I believe Ulrich called it.

"So, Lyoko - that's the virtual world that Lila is trapped in, right?" I ask, going over to him. Reaching him, I lean over Jeremy's shoulder, "How do I get there?"

Jeremy bites his lip, and shakes his head, "You don't - it's too dangerous. I won-OW!" He turns to me, rubbing the top of his head as I withdraw the hand I swatted him with.

"What was that for?"

"Dismissing my abilities." I say frankly, "I may not be as experienced on Lyoko as the others, but in a fight, I can take Odd down any day. Lila's in danger, and I want to help. So let me help."

Jeremy stares at me for a long moment but returns his focus to the keyboard when Ulrich's voice comes through the speakers, letting him know that they're ready to go in.

 **POV Lila's**

Aelita is still transferring her code into me. It's awkwardly close for the beam of light streaming from her head to my head. Between our foreheads.

"Aelita... you know if you do this, Jeremy's going to be mad. You know that, right?"

"He can be mad for all I care. Let him. I'd do this for any of you. Lila, you need to be on Earth and protect the future. There's just ten minutes left now," Aelita replies.

 **Afterwards**

Five minutes have passed. Looking at Aelita, she continues transferring her code into me.

 _I can't believe she's willing to sacrifice her time on Earth, for me…_ I think feeling guilty.

The "tower's doorway," starts glowing blue. Ulrich and Odd enter, running to us.

"Aelita stop!" Odd exclaims.

"If you don't stop, Xana will steal all of your memory! Aelita stop right now!" Ulrich exclaims.

Aelita looks at Ulrich, she stops the beam of light streaming from our head. I see a hint of the Xana target on Aelita's head, but it quickly fades. She places her hands on the interface, making a few adjustments. She places her hand again on the interface and the window running the program disappears. She then presses her hand on the interface again, and the interface disappears entirely.

"Jeremy?" Aelita asks, appearing to have reestablished the link with him.

 _"Aelita, you're so stubborn. That was a silly thing to do."_

"I'm sorry... I thought I was doing the right thing," Aelita explains.

"I understand, really. I can't thank you enough, and I appreciate it," I smile.

"You're turning into a real human being. You're beginning to confuse generosity with stupidity," Odd jokes.

"Anyway, we still have no idea how to save Lila," Ulrich says.

 _"Don't bet on that. I just happen to have a brilliant idea. Xana has stolen Lila's DNA code sequence. So, it must be in his memory. And how do we get access to his memory?"_

"Sector Five!" all of us exclaim in unison.

 _"So, um guys... what should we do about our guest?"_ Jeremy asks.

 _"I'm right here you know Jeremy, hey Lila,"_ Cameron says.

My eyes widen.

"CAMERON?! What are you doing in the factory? And why are you in the lab?!" I exclaim.

 _"Ulrich and Odd just happened to lead me straight to it. I was worried about you since you missed out on our... hangout. They pretty much explained everything to me, about this lab all of you have here. Also, someone needs to teach them how to lie - their fib had more gaps in it than the Eiffel Tower. Also... since Yumi isn't here, you're down a warrior. Which means you're going to need an extra pair of hands. I'm great at video games. I'm a solid fighter if I do say so myself, and while from my understanding this world of yours is a bit more complex than a game, it's still something that I think I can handle,"_ he explains.

Ulrich and Odd look at each other, Odd shrugs and looks to Aelita. She seems to be thinking about it.

"Jeremy... seeing as how we can't launch a return to the past right now, and that Cameron hasn't called the police on us... or reported us to our teachers... I think we can trust him. Go ahead and virtualize him. We'll wait for him here," Aelita decides.

 **TO BE CONTINUED IN:**

 _The Missing Link: Part 2_

Author's note: In the original episode of The Missing Link, Jeremy materialized Aelita without using the Code: Earth program. This is a huge plot hole and mistake. Aelita is still linked to Xana which means she would have needed to be brought in with the Code: Earth program. Why this error occurred... I'm not entirely sure. But I caught it on time, thankfully. Next update will be on August 26th!

 **Don't forget to review!**

 **LyokoWarrior1994**


	25. The Missing Link: Part 2

**This chapter was written by me and edited by Undeadmonkey8.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko, all copyrighting goes to Moonscoop.**

 **I only own Lila. Mary is owned by AeroJester203. Cameron is owned by Undeadmonkey8.**

 **Author's note: I forgot to mention to everyone that the cover for Changing Destiny: Lila's Journey, was made by the original artist who drew Future Jeremy and older Lila! This is now officially the last drawing we will see of Lila, and I do not plan on changing it. If you would like the artist's contact info, I'd be more than happy to share it to you through Private Messaging on fanfiction. The artist does charge a commission, however. But it is definitely not an expensive price if you're only having the artist, commission one character. One other thing, we have our update two days earlier than intended because today was supposed to be the day I originally intended to update Changing Destiny: Lila's Journey and not the 26th.**

 **Enjoy!**

 _The Missing Link: Part 2_

 **Inside the scanner room**

 **POV Cameron's**

The scanner is a tall cylinder filled with golden light, humming with power. Somehow, this isn't reassuring as I step forward, trying not to talk myself out of this particular stroke of brilliance. I set a hand against the outside, and try not to think about the implications of the heat radiating from the metal.

"Explain this to me again, Jeremy?"

 _"You step inside the scanner, I input a few codes, and you're virtualized to Lyoko."_

I swallow hard, allowing the dialogue to distract me from my nerves.

 _It's like my first Aikido tournament all over again. Still, Lila's there, and in trouble, and for Hecate's sake, Cameron, pull yourself together,_ I think.

"Sounds easy enough," I say, projecting a great deal more confidence than I actually feel.

 _"Couldn't be easier - it's actually one of the simplest programs involved with the supercomputer."_

"I'll pretend that's reassuring," I mutter, too quietly for the microphones to pick up. Still, in for a franc, in for a euro. I force myself to step inside and allowing myself to flinch at the sound of the doors closing behind me. The light is even greater in here, and I close my eyes as a trickle of sweat that has nothing to do with the heat, rolls down my neck.

"I'm ready, Jeremy."

 _"Transfer: Cameron,"_ Jeremy begins, and the scanner starts spinning. I stagger, briefly, and regain my balance, adjusting to the rotation.

 _"Scanner: Cameron."_ The scanner continues to spin, and a dull hum rises around me.

"Virtualization!"

The scanner's light shines even through my closed eyelids as a gust of wind rushes through my hair. Something yanks at the pit of my stomach, and suddenly I feel like I'm being stretched between two points infinitely far from each other.

 **Lyoko's Forest Sector**

When everything calms down, I open my eyes to take in the scenery. It takes me a moment to realize that I'm not on the ground, and oh gods what did I do to offend you?!

Jeremy, thankfully, either doesn't hear me scream with the fall, or is polite enough to pretend he's not. My feet are under me, and I try to hit the ground in a crouch, but misjudge my momentum, and go sprawling. Hard.

It takes me a moment to recover my breath, and then I pick myself up. I brush off my outfit.

 _Wow, okay, hello excellent fashion sense. Thank you, Lyoko, for not making me look like a nitwit_ , I think.

A sunset-red tunic covers me from neck to knees, leaving my right arm past the shoulder bare, but covering my left arm to the wrist. The trim seems to be done in gold thread, and I peer at it more closely, slowly picking out 0s and 1s that denote some sort of message in Binary. Since that language is one that I don't speak, I'm at a loss as to what it says, but I still appreciate the effect. I mean I'm good with computers and all, just not that good.

Aside from the red and gold of the tunic, the rest of my outfit - sash at the waist, keeping the garment tied shut, trousers, and a pair of soft leather boots - are black. I twist and stretch, testing my flexibility and finding it quite satisfying before something jabs me in the side. A slender holster, containing a . . .

"Jeremy," I say, withdrawing the flute, "I'll bet you thirty euros that you can't guess what my weapon is on Lyoko."

 _"No bet._ Now _, the tower is due north - I'm materializing Odd's overboard for your use. It should be pretty intuitive, but I'll give you directions to the tower, just in case. From what I can tell on the monitors, it seems you have a flute as a weapon. Ha, okay that's pretty funny. I'll explain to you how it works, on the way there. Sending you Odd's Overboard... now!"_

Seeing the transportation vehicle materialize, I look at the Overboard.

 _Oh boy… this is going to be tricky to use,_ I think and get onto it.

 **POV Lila's**

 **Inside the tower**

"Hopefully Cameron will get here soon, I'm bored," Odd says.

"He'll be here. You guys fought him, right?" I ask.

"Yeah we did," Ulrich replies. "And it wasn't pleasant. He's a good fighter."

"I'm sure he'll help us out. I'm just glad we can trust him," Aelita says. As if on cue, Cameron stumbles into the tower, dusting himself off and giving me a smile. We look at his outfit.

"Einstein, no FAIR! I'm the only who STILL looks like a nitwit on Lyoko!" Odd complains.

Cameron raises an eyebrow, glancing at him, "Nothing wrong with cats, Odd. Have you tried using those claws on Xana's monsters? They look like they could do some serious damage."

Odd twitches, a full-body motion that has me worried he might fall off of the platform.

"Nothing wrong with cats, he says," the boy mutters, "You all know full well I'm a dog person!"

 _"If you two are done,"_ Jeremy's voice echoes through the tower, _"You'll need to head for the edge of the Sector - once you're there, I'll call up the transport orb."_

"Transport . . . orb?" Cameron blinks, looking around at us, "I'm . . . not going to like this, am I?"

"Probably not," I say. "Let's go!"

Odd, Ulrich, Aelita, and I run out of the tower and phase out of its "doorway." Cameron is last to follow us since he's still new to this.

 **Afterwards**

Reaching the edge of the sector, with no trouble from any monsters, we hop off our vehicles. Cameron had gone on Ulrich's Overbike the whole way, with Ulrich driving it. Looking up, we hear Jeremy say:

" _I'm entering the code now. Scipio."_

Looking up, the transport orb floats down. Cameron gulps, and the transport orb opens. It scoops us all up, as it brings us to Sector Five.

 **Sector Five**

 **Arena room**

The transport orb drops us off in Sector Five. The room starts spinning, and Cameron places his hand on his head, falling to his knees.

"Nope. Def-" he gags, pressing a hand to his mouth for a moment,

"Definitely don't like that. How do you guys stand it?"

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it. Virtualization too," I reply.

 _"By the way Lila, without your human DNA sequence code you're just as vulnerable as Aelita. If you lose your life points - you'll disappear forever. Also, Cameron that flute of yours has more than a few ranged and area attacks, as I mentioned on your way to the tower. Be careful, otherwise, Lila and Aelita can get caught in those attacks. That's something we should avoid. Same for you Cameron, you don't have a materialization code for Sector Five yet."_

"Yeah, I got it. Thanks, Jeremy," Cameron says. As he gets back on his feet. The room starts to slow down, and the wall begin aligning.

"So, uh, what exactly do we have to do here?" Cameron asks.

 _"We have to trip a key mechanism, so we continue our mission and retrieve Lila's DNA sequence code from Xana. Since this is his home, we have to go through a series of obstacles. One of these obstacles; usually includes flying bots. And, there's a countdown which starts... now."_

The wall stops and aligns itself. The door opens and we start running into the doorway. Running into it, we then run down the corridor and get to the next set of walls. Cameron following behind us, we stop at the walls. The walls open, and we start running down the next corridor. My eyes start blinking rapidly as if I'm watching TV.

 **In vision**

 _The vision is at a camera angle, showing me the different paths to take. It's more detailed than my usual visions. Finally, it reaches the room, where it looks like it's just a bridge we have to run across and get to the countdown key. However, the ceiling starts falling down like columns, hitting the ground. The columns then start to go up._

 **End of vision**

"Lila, is it another vision?" Aelita asks.

Getting my wits about me, I look at Aelita.

"Yes!. I - know where the key mechanism is!"

 **New room**

Reaching the new room, we walk inside to see the bridge. It's a straight line from here and to the countdown key mechanism, just like my vision showed.

 _All we've got to do is somehow get across that bridge, without being crushed by the columns. The others besides Aelita, Cameron, and myself would be crushed to death if we attempt it. Note to self, remind Aelita to find Cameron's materialization code after she finds mine,_ I think.

Odd starts getting in a running position. I place my hand up, stopping him.

"Hang on Odd. In my vision, I saw that this is definitely a trap. Cameron, can you try using your flute and walk to the countdown key mechanism? Then trip it?" I ask.

"I can... what kind of trap are we talking?" Cameron replies.

I point to the ceiling, "Falling columns. Got anything for that?"

Cameron nods, biting his lip as he pulls his flute free, "Yeah . . . yeah, I think I've got something for it. Stand back - way back. I don't know for certain how big this can get."

He moves to the beginning of the walkway and raises the flute to his lips. As soon as he steps forward, the first column begins to fall, bringing certain devirtualization with it.

As it comes within mere meters of him, however, Cameron inhales deeply and blows into the flute. A single, pure note fills the air, and a pulsing wave - barely visible as a ripple in the air - blasts away from him. The column slows, coming closer, closer, too close, and then slams down as Cameron steps out from beneath it.

Step by step, he continues, that same note remaining in the air. Almost twenty longer seconds pass, before he reaches the far end of the pathway, and hits the key with his elbow. The mechanism lights up, forming the eye of Xana, and the columns begin ascending, leaving the walkway clear. The door opens.

Cameron is trying to catch his breath, when we reach him, but offers a smile and a thumbs up.

"That," he pants, "was pushing it. Don't usually . . . hold a note for that long. Just need . . . a minute. I know we can't _really_ breathe here on Lyoko, but seriously, I've never held a note for that long. I'll need to get used to that too."

 _"I'd say you earned it,"_ Jeremy says, _"With the countdown Key mechanism managed, you've got time. Well done, Cameron."_

We resume our run, Cameron taking up the rear, as he puts his flute back in his holster.

 **Elevator area**

Reaching the end of the corridor, we walk into a room with open space. A small bridge is at the end.

"Here comes our taxi. Cameron, you better jump fast," Ulrich says.

"Jump? Jump when?" Cameron asks.

A noise starts approaching us, and looking over to him Aelita exclaims:

"Now!"

Jumping down, we land safely on the elevator. The elevator turns and brings us up.

 **Afterwards**

The elevator comes to a halt, bringing us just beyond the celestial dome. Cameron leaps off immediately, turning back to glare at it as if the elevator had personally offended him, "I'm starting to think I hate this sector," he growls, "Or maybe that modes of transportation on Lyoko all hate me."

"Did you run all the way to the tower by the way?" Odd asks, "You arrived awfully fast. If so - didn't Jeremy give you a vehicle?"

There's a long pause, as Cameron looks embarrassed, "I-he-that is-" he clears his throat and looks away from the group, "I used your Overboard. I fell off it at least three times."

Odd howls with laughter, the entrance to the Celestial Dome begins to rise, and we start running onto the bridge. Aelita runs up to the data interface and reaching it, she presses her hands to it.

 _"Aelita, do you know where to find Lila's DNA sequence code?"_

"Not really. But I'll manage somehow," Aelita replies. She continues using the data interface, going through various digital windows.

"So what sort of monsters are here anyways?" Cameron asks.

"Well... we usually have to fight these flying mantas," Odd replies.

"Uh... Flying what now?" Cameron asks.

"Flying mantas. Think of the ones that you would see in an ocean, they're similar. Just they're colored black and white, with the eye of Xana on them. They should be hatching soon," I explain.

Ulrich, Odd, Cameron, and I look up at the data running through Sector Five. We hear screeching as a hole starts opening.

"Uh, Lila by any chance did Yumi tell you why she was running late today?" Ulrich asks.

"No sorry Ulrich," I say. "I don't..."

"I see..." Ulrich trails off.

"Hey, when we're back on Earth, you can always apologize for accusing her of being with William. I'm sure she'll accept your apology. And Cameron... we'll be able to have our hangout for sure."

"I'd like that. And it's NOT a date Odd," Cameron glares at Odd, who shrugs.

"If you say so."

The screeching growing louder from the nest, we look up at it.

"I think the nest is hatched! Lila, by my side! I think I have a way to block their attacks. Odd, Ulrich, can you take care of them?" Cameron asks.

"Yeah, we'll do our best," Ulrich replies taking out his Katana blade. Odd cocking his paw, I run to Cameron's side. Reaching it, he pulls out his flute and places his finger on the letter G.

"I hope you were right about this meaning 'Guard,' Jeremy," Cameron says. He blows gently, and something starts to form in front of us as the mantas begin charging their lasers.

"Laser Arrows!" Odd exclaims. Firing off his laser arrows, the mantas fly up to avoid them. Once the arrows pass, they level out, heading for us, and opening fire.

"Super Sprint!" Ulrich exclaims. Using his Super Sprint, Ulrich super speeds our way, leaving a trail of yellow behind him. Cameron's creation starts coming to life. A shield, which is nothing more than a barrier of blue energy, is guarding the front side of Cameron and me.

Turning to our blind spot, I take my staff out so I can be ready to use Exardesco. Just as I do, I look at Ulrich. He continues running, with his super speed.

He jumps off the bridge and he lands on a manta. Taking out his Katana, Ulrich starts slashing through the manta. A light shining from within the manta arises.

"Super Sprint!" Ulrich exclaims and using his super speed he jumps off it and onto the other manta, in time before the manta explodes.

Ulrich slashes through its outer shell. A shine arises from within the manta, same as the last one. Ulrich keeps his Katana in the manta, as he uses it to guide himself to the edge of the bridge we're on. He sheathes his Katana blade and then jumps off the manta. The manta explodes. Yelling, he barely manages to catch the side of the bridge. Using his hand, he tries to pull himself up.

 _"Nice job Ulrich!"_ Jeremy compliments.

Odd runs over to help Ulrich and pulls him up all the way. Odd dusts Ulrich off.

"Way to go good buddy," Odd smiles.

"Thanks. Those mantas are a real piece of work," Ulrich says.

Seeing the Xana Bots coming our way, Odd starts firing off his Laser Arrows.

"And Jeremy I'm going to need to be reloaded soon!"

 _"Right... Reloading now!"_ Jeremy exclaims.

"Aelita!" I exclaim. Looking at the Xana Bot, I'm unable to start the chant for Exardesco quickly enough. They start flying to Aelita. Charging their lasers, they release them.

Odd runs on both paws and feet. Getting in front of Aelita, he takes the lasers head on. His body disappears into a cloud of pixels.

"Odd!" Ulrich exclaims. Using his super sprint he super speeds, over to Aelita and quickly unsheathes his Katana blade. He blocks the lasers one by one, as Aelita continues to search the data interface. The Xana Bots dodge their own lasers, trying not to get hit by them.

"I've, I've got it! Uploading it now, Jeremy!" Aelita exclaims, pressing the data interface. A red bar appears as it starts loading. One of the bots, different from the small group that's attacking Ulrich who is still reflecting their lasers back at them, starts zooming toward the blind spot I'm guarding.

"Exardesco, Exardesco!" I exclaim, chanting in Latin. My amulet glows, letting me know my Fire Bolts are ready. Swinging my staff, I launch two Fire Bolts at the Xana Bot, giving it no room to dodge them in time. The two Fire Bolts hit the Xana Bot and it explodes.

Keeping my staff up, just in case, Ulrich continues blocking the lasers from the Xana Bots. He quickly reflects them with his Katana, and they are reflected back at the Xana Bots. Their own lasers hit them and they explode. Ulrich's sheathes his Katana blade and looks at Aelita. I sheathe my staff.

"Is it done?" he asks her. Looking at the red bar, it fully loads and the eye of Xana blinks, confirming the uploading is done.

"Yes, it is! Lila, your DNA sequence code has been uploaded!" she exclaims happily. Sighing in relief, Cameron then lowers his guard dome down. He puts his flute away in his holster. Seeing that no other mantas are hatching, or Xana Bots coming our way, I walk up to Aelita and Ulrich.

"Thank goodness… I'm glad that's over and done with it. Oh, I almost forgot – maybe we can get Cameron's materialization code into him for Sector Five, while we're here?" I ask, reaching them.

" _Good idea. Aelita you can use the data interface, but be on guard everyone for any more monsters that might appear. The mantas hopefully won't hatch again any time soon,"_ Jeremy replies.

"Right we will," Ulrich says.

Using the data interface, Aelita starts searching for Cameron's materialization code.

"I… I really don't like this sector. A bit creepy," he shudders, walking up to us. He reaches us too.

I nod agreeing with him.

"You said it."

 **Afterwards**

 **In the scanner**

 **POV Lila's**

Opening my eyes, I'm back in the scanner. The scanner's doors open. I step out as Odd, Ulrich, Aelita, and Cameron smile. Odd, Ulrich, and Cameron were materialized first once we got back to the Forest Sector. Then, Jeremy used the Code: Earth program to bring Aelita back in, using the way tower we were all in earlier. And after Aelita was materialized, I was brought back in last.

 _"Good looks like you're back to normal. Let's go and tell Yumi the good news. I'm sure she'll be thrilled,"_ Jeremy says.

"Yeah, I am too," I say.

Cameron looks at my time machine necklace.

"That family of heirloom of yours Lila... it's really curious," he says.

"Thanks. _Maybe_ , someday I'll tell you the history behind it," I smile. He smiles too.

 **Under the arches**

Aelita, Jeremy, and I are under the arches with Ulrich, Odd, and Cameron.

"I've got to admit, those Xana Bots are really tough and really fast. I'm glad I got to Aelita in time," Odd says.

"I am too. You did well Odd," I compliment.

"Thanks!" Odd exclaims.

Yumi walks up to us, reaching us she notices Cameron is with us.

"So Yumi... Cameron here would like to tell you something," Ulrich says.

Cameron gives Ulrich a Look, and he shrugs carelessly. Yumi glances between them, raising her eyebrow. Cameron sighs, turning to her.

"I filled in for you while you were away." As he finishes speaking, he winces slightly, "That might have come out wrong - I'm not replacing you by any measure, just joining the group. That is if you're okay with me joi-"

"I think it'll work out. Besides, the more of us there is to fight Xana the better. Right guys?" Yumi asks.

"Yeah!" Odd and Ulrich exclaim, giving each other a high five.

"Thanks, Yumi, I appreciate it," Cameron says.

"Me too," I smile.

"You're welcome," Yumi smiles.

"Cameron your powers on Lyoko - they're a bit unique. Particularly the note you used to affect the terrain in Sector Five," Jeremy says.

"There's never been someone like that on Lyoko. I can create terrain, and affect it myself sometimes... but your abilities are on a different scale. Barriers, repelling waves . . . whatever else your flute can do . . . Xana may go after you if you give him trouble," Aelita worries.

"Well, Xana is going to have a tough time," Cameron smirks, "I may be new, but as long as I follow the rules you guys give me on Lyoko, I'm sure I'll be okay. If he wants a piece of me, I'll be happy to take him on."

"By the way Yumi. How did your class photo go?" I ask.

"It went well! Do you guys want to see it?" Yumi asks. She unzips her bag. Grabbing the framed photo from it, she holds the photo. Looking at the photo, I can see Yumi and William, are standing side by side in the photo behind their classmates. Noticing her smile in the photo, she seems rather happy.

 _I'm glad it went well for her,_ I think.

Looking at Yumi, Ulrich says:

"Say Yumi... about accusing you of being with William? I'm um... sorry. You can choose whoever you want to hang out with."

"I know I can Ulrich. And apology accepted. As for what I had planned well... maybe I'll tell you later," she says. She puts the framed photo back in her bag, and she zips up her bag. She shoulders her bag.

"Okay..." Ulrich trails off.

Looking at Cameron, I say:

"Um Cameron, did you want to go to the park? We never did get a chance to hang out."

"Sure... and Odd, it's not a date!" Cameron exclaims. Odd laughs a bit, as the others do too. I blush slightly.

 _Can't a guy and a girl just sit on a park bench and talk, and not call it a date? I mean... yeah I like Cameron. But this is definitely NOT a date,_ I think.

Cameron and I make our way to the park so that we can have our hangout and talk like we had planned.

 **Don't forget to review!**

 **LyokoWarrior1994**


	26. The Chips are Down

**This chapter was written by me and edited by AeroJester203.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko, all copyrighting goes to Moonscoop.**

 **I only own Lila. Mary is owned by AeroJester203. Cameron is owned by Undeadmonkey8.**

 _The Chips are Down_

 **In Jeremy and Cameron's room**

 **POV Cameron's**

 _Even though it's been a week since I've started rooming with Jeremy, as far as roommates go he's pretty good... though he likes to work at night. Thankfully Ulrich gave me a pair of earplugs to tune out the noise from Jeremy's computer. I know the antiviruses are important to find for Lila and Aelita... but doesn't this guy need sleep?_ I think, looking at him as he is snoring on his keyboard.

Walking to Jeremy's who's in his chair, I bend down and whisper, "Jeremy... Odd and Aelita are going out on a date."

Shooting up from his keyboard, Jeremy looks at me while I smile, frowning immediately after.

"Very funny, Cameron. Ulrich's pulled that one on me before," Jeremy retorts, taking his glasses from the keyboard. He wipes them with his sleeve before putting them on. "What time is it anyway?"

"Time for breakfast," I reply. Checking his watch, which is on the desk, he gets up from his chair.

 **In the cafeteria**

 **POV Lila's**

Grabbing my tray of food from the line, which consists of a croissant and tea, I look for the others. I spot Cameron waving at me to get my attention. Going over to a seat, I sit down with my tray. Aelita and Jeremy look at me as I push my chair closer.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

Aelita apparently decides to speak for both of them, "Jeremy and I were wondering… how are things going with _that_ laptop in our room?"

"What laptop is this?" Cameron asks.

Eating a piece of a banana, Odd chews it then swallows and he looks thoughtful for a moment before turning to me,

"Uh, Lila… do you think we should tell him?"

Sipping my tea, I look at Cameron.

"It's just a laptop. Nothing special… and unfortunately, Aelita, I haven't had time to progress any further," I reply to each of them. "I'm glad Jeremy took care of those other little trinkets Xana left for us, though."

"I am too. And we still don't know who gave you that bracelet, or Aelita's necklace," Jeremy adds.

"Bracelet… and a necklace? Wait a minute! You mean the one you thought I gave to you on Valentine's Day?" Cameron asks.

Nodding, I explain, "Yeah, Xana had… somehow made these chips. Aelita was possessed through hers' and I was weakened to the point where I was incapable of fighting on Lyoko. Apparently, left on long enough, they had the capability to take one's own free will away. Xana wouldn't even need a spectre to possess someone."

He shakes his head in disbelief, "How is that even possible?"

"I'm not sure and it doesn't matter," I answer. "The devices have been destroyed by Jeremy."

"Well… that's good I suppose. One less problem we have to worry about. Has anyone seen Ulrich?" Cameron asks.

"I think he's still in the room. He promised to feed Kiwi for me," Odd replies.

Cameron raises an eyebrow, "Kiwi? Who's Kiwi?"

Odd flinches and he realizes that he's said too much, but answers anyway, "He's… my dog…"

Looking at him, Cameron says, "You mean to tell me you have a dog in your room? Isn't that against school rules?"

"It is. But don't say anything, okay?" Odd asks pleadingly.

Cameron waves a hand, "I won't, you can trust me."

"Hey guys," Yumi greets and walks to the table.

"Hi Yumi," Jeremy says. Then he asks in a concerned tone, "Is everything okay?"

Looking at Yumi, she seems to be a bit worried.

"Not really… Can we talk?" Yumi asks.

 **Outside under the arches**

"… and that's all of it," Yumi finishes. "Let's not tell Ulrich, okay? He'll be devastated…"

"I'm really sorry, Yumi," Jeremy says.

Aelita adds, "Me too. I wish there was something I could do for you."

"Thank you Aelita, that's really nice of you," Yumi says.

"I'm sorry too Yumi… Do you know when it's going to happen?" I ask.

"Soon," Yumi replies before choking up a bit.

Ulrich walks up to us and notices the look on Yumi's face, "Is everything okay, Yumi?"

The bell rings, and we notice our classmates start walking out of the cafeteria to begin making their way to their classes.

"We should get going," I say. "We're going to be late."

"Yeah," Yumi replies before leaving for hers. We start walking to our classroom too.

"Okay then… just pretend I don't exist!" Ulrich calls and he moves to catch up to us.

 **In class**

Our Spanish teacher is going on about the nuances of grammar in the foreign language, Ulrich leans towards Cameron and asks in a whisper,

"What was wrong with Yumi earlier?"

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Ulrich, but-" Cameron starts to explain, but I interrupt him.

"She might be leaving…" I whisper, trailing off.

"Say that again?" Ulrich asks.

"Yumi's father lost his job," Odd explains. "They're thinking about going back to Japan, so he can find work."

"You've got to be kidding," Ulrich says.

Knowing what happened before, I glance over my shoulder, "Ulrich… there's no question in my mind something good will happen to Yumi's father. We need to have faith."

"She's right Ulrich; it's not for sure yet. Don't panic," Jeremy tells him.

"Don't panic?" Ulrich asks incredulously, barely managing to keep his voice low enough to where the teacher doesn't hear him. "Yumi is possibly leaving, and you expect me not to panic?" He then starts drumming his finger along the desk nervously while looking down, apparently trying to come up with a way to fix the problem.

"You know... There is one solution," Odd replies. "It's easy too."

Looking up at Odd, Ulrich asks, "And what's that?"

"You see, if you marry Yumi, then you can get her a green card," Odd jokes.

The brunet scowls, " _Hilarious_ , Odd."

"I'm just trying to lighten things up," Odd defends.

I glance at him disapprovingly, "That's not a good joke, Odd."

"Lila's right; this is a serious situation," Jeremy whispers from his desk.

Getting up from his chair, Ulrich raises his finger. "Por favor, Senior Cajia?" he asks, both mispronouncing the teacher's title and saying "please" instead of "excuse me" in Spanish.

Turning to us, Señor Cajia looks at Ulrich, "Sí, Ulrich?"

"May I please go to the infirmary – I'm not feeling too well," Ulrich says.

"Of course, Ulrich," Señor Cajia nods.

 **After classes, later at night**

 **In Jeremy and Cameron's room**

"Any luck?" Jeremy asks from his chair as Aelita and I enter his room. I shake my head in response.

Aelita and I sit down on Jeremy's bed after having searched for Ulrich, who disappeared since that trip to the infirmary.

Walking into the room, Cameron and Odd sit down on Cameron's bed, also without Ulrich in tow.

"He's not in our room. I don't know where he is," Odd says. Kiwi barks at him and jumps onto Cameron's bed, resting next to Odd.

"I get the feeling Ulrich is taking this situation harder than we are," Aelita says.

Cameron nods, "Well from what I've seen, that seems to be the case."

"Yeah. I mean, Ulrich losing Yumi is– well, imagine how you would feel if Jeremy had to leave," Odd says, lying down on the bed.

"W-why do you say that?" Aelita asks with a stammer. She starts blushing.

"Cause I love making you blush," Odd answers. Jeremy rubs his neck sheepishly. He and Aelita awkwardly look away from each other.

"Uh, guys… I have a confession," I speak up, and they look at me.

Jeremy recovers from his embarrassment at the subject change, "What is it, Lila?"

"I think I know where Ulrich is and what he's about to do. If he does what I think he's going to do, don't get mad and kick him out of the group, okay? Xana's already powerful—more powerful than he should be. One little return to the past program…" I trail off, my eyes looking down at the floor. "It won't make that much of a difference."

"Return to the past?" Jeremy asks, his hand on his chin. He stands up to pace through the center of the room. Our eyes follow him as he turns around, and his eyes widen. It looks like he is looking at something that is heading our way.

"Oh no!" he exclaims while pointing at the window.

"What? What's wrong?" Odd asks, getting up. All of us start looking outside the window. We can see the return to the past bubble engulfing everything, sending us back in time.

 **Earlier the same day**

 **POV Cameron's**

Waking up, my eyes blink and the sun shines through our window.

 _What just happened? Was that a dream…? No, wait, Lila said this would be Ulrich's doing,_ I think. I notice that Jeremy is resting on his keyboard the same as before, and get up to wake him up. Shaking him awake, he gasps and looks at me.

"We need to go see Ulrich. Now. Before he does another stupid thing," Jeremy says.

"Right," I nod.

 **In Ulrich and Odd's room**

Odd is snoring like a dog, which is rather funny because Kiwi is sleeping peacefully and quietly next to Odd. Ulrich is nowhere to be seen. Grabbing Ulrich's pillow, I throw it at Odd's face. The pillow smacking Odd makes him wake right up away, this causes Kiwi to get up. He wags his tail, seeing us in the room.

"What was that for?!" he exclaims groggily.

"Ulrich's gone," I explain.

His eyes clear as he appears to remember the return trip. Looking at his roommate's empty bed, Odd palms his face in frustration, "Where could he have gone?"

"Lila would know," I reply.

 **POV Lila's**

 **In the woods**

Running after Ulrich, he seems to be carrying Aelita unconscious in his arms.

 _This doesn't make sense! Ever since Mary was absorbed by The Scyphozoa, Xana's somehow figured out a way around our immunity to possession. Now he's possessed Ulrich, his third victim. Jeremy was his first, followed by Odd... and I can't reach the others on my phone! How is this possible? Why is the Xana of this timeline changing so much?!_ I think.

 **On the girl's dorm floor**

 **POV Cameron's**

Reaching the girl's room, we notice the door has been left open. Placing my hand on the door handle, I open the door the whole way.

Scanning the room, the three of us can tell that there's been a scuffle. Lila and Aelita aren't in their bunk bed, and the room is a complete mess. This could mean only one thing.

"Xana!" Odd and I exclaim, making the realization.

"I know Lila said we shouldn't be mad at Ulrich, but he's missing and so are the two of them. I have a bad feeling Xana possessed him, like he possessed us," Jeremy explains, fixing his glasses.

"Us?" I ask. "I haven't been possessed by him…"

"Uh…. You kind of were. The night Aelita was DJ'ing…" Odd trails off. "It was before you joined the group, so you don't remember."

"We need to get to the lab!" Jeremy urges. "I'll call Yumi and see if she can't help us with one last mission…"

 **In the lab**

Reaching the lab, Jeremy goes to the computer. Sitting on his chair, it brings him to the monitor and he starts typing on the keyboard. He nods.

"We were right; they're already there on Lyoko. Lila, what's going on?" Jeremy asks, putting on his headset.

 **POV Lila's**

 **Lyoko's Desert Sector**

Flying on my broomstick that I materialized before using self-virtualization, to virtualize myself on Lyoko, I use my sword to block several lasers from the Tarantulas while chasing Xana down. Using Ulrich's avatar, he's traveling via a Tarantula with Aelita on its back with him. Luckily my sword still has its deflecting properties. I had taken a laser to the right shoulder and it felt like the inside of it got seared.

Switching my sword to my left hand had been no issue since I was trained to be ambidextrous in the future, but it was unsettling to feel real pain on Lyoko.

 _"Lila, what's going on?"_

"Xana's bugged up the system, Jeremy!" I call out, relieved to hear him. "He had Ulrich take control of our avatars, and now if I get hit, the pain is real! I think… if I lose all my life points, I'll disappear forever! Can you bring back up and debug whatever Xana's done?"

 _"I'll try,"_ Jeremy replies. " _I'm sending you Cameron and Odd now. Is Aelita with you?"_

"No, she's with Ulrich. I think Xana is trying to bring Aelita to the Scyphozoa again," I explain.

 _"Is there anything you can do to slow them? Use that flame attack of yours maybe? Should cost you about 20 life points, it'll buy some time."_

"I'll… I'll try," I say. Lowering my broomstick closer to the ground, I jump off of it while it's still moving. With no extra durability or agility, I have to rely on my own training to minimize the impact, wincing at the still aching shoulder. Stopping myself, I get my sword ready as the Tarantulas and Ulrich continue to run away. I start chanting in Latin.

"Ignesco, Ignesco, Ignesco," I chant, charging my sword's flame. It starts burning with a light layer of flames.

The two Tarantulas stop and turn around to stand on their legs, firing a volley of lasers at me. I run to the side, continuing to chant in Latin.

"Ignesco, Ignesco, Ignesco!" I exclaim, as my fire fully engulfs the sword.

 **"Stop her,"** Ulrich orders, his voice changed to a bit more of a demonic tone from Xana's influence.

Running further to the side, I try getting into a stance to aim the spell at him. His eyes pulse with the Xana symbol in them, he's getting more and more frustrated. Looking at me, Xanafied Ulrich exclaims,

 **"Super sprint!"**

His super speed leaves a much darker trail of orange, compared to the yellow color Ulrich normally would have, if he wasn't possessed.

He jumps off the Tarantula he was on. He runs at me and he reaches me. I try swinging my sword, but he grabs it by the hilt and pulls the flaming weapon out of my hand, the flames extinguishing without me to fuel it. He tosses the sword aside, leaving me disarmed.

 **"Tsk, tsk. Your magic is useless now,"** Xanafied Ulrich chuckles. I quickly try to take my staff out, but he makes a fist and moves to punch me in the face.

I try to dodge, but the pain in my shoulder flares up, and the moment of hesitation costs me as his fist connects. With the impact genuine and the avatar's boosted strength, my vision blacks out for a moment as I'm knocked to the ground.

I hear the droning of the Scyphozoa, and my eyes open. The giant jellyfish has appeared and is moving towards me. Looking at Xanafied Ulrich, he's still holding Aelita. He smiles evilly.

 **"It's time we did something about that nasty magic of yours,"** Xana chuckles through Ulrich's mouth.

The tentacles from the Scyphozoa bind me, and the tips touch my head. They start glowing red, and my eyes become heavy as I fall into a helpless trance.

 **POV Cameron's**

Gliding around the desert, I use my mind to direct my new Override that Jeremy has made for me. It's a wide silver disc that I can control telepathically, more conscious in control than the Overboard that Odd directs by tilting his weight in the direction he wants to go. Though this is admittedly difficult, so I might have Jeremy fix it soon so that it responds to me by tilting my weight, kind of like how Odd does with his Overboard.

"How far are we away from them Jeremy?" Yumi asks from her Overwing.

"We need to get them soon; otherwise we'll be in big trouble with our history teacher!" Odd exclaims and tenses his front leg to push his Overboard harder.

 _"Thirty degrees north and step on it!"_ Jeremy exclaims. _"The Scyphozoa has just arrived, and for some reason, I can't seem to get in touch with Lila! It looks like... Oh no! The Scyphozoa has taken hold of her!"_

"Right, we'll step on it," I say.

Finally reaching possessed Ulrich, he looks at us and grunts in annoyance. Lila is on the ground, unconscious. The Scyphozoa starts putting its tentacles on Aelita.

"Xana!" I yell. Yumi, Odd, and I jump off our vehicles and run up to possessed Ulrich. Taking out her Tessen fans, Yumi extends them.

"Hiya!" she exclaims, throwing the bladed fans at the Scyphozoa. Her fans reach the giant jellyfish creature and cut its tentacles, releasing Aelita. Odd runs over to her and catches her in his arms. His feet hit the ground hard, but he manages to hold his ground.

Taking out my flute I cover all of the holes with my fingers before blowing into it, hard. It releases a loud sonic pulse causing pain to Ulrich and Yumi, like an off-key note amplified to its maximum. As they both cover their ears, Ulrich is now open for an attack.

"Jeremy, did you get that bug fixed?" I ask, taking my mouth off the flute.

 _"Yes. You can go ahead and take care of Ulrich! But make sure he's unconscious; we need Aelita to deactivate the tower so that he doesn't cause trouble back here on Earth."_

"Right, got it," I nod.

"Yumi, help me with Lila!" Odd calls. "Let's get her and Aelita away from here."

"Right!" Yumi exclaims, putting her fans away and running to Lila while Odd puts Aelita on his shoulders.

 **"No you don't!"** Ulrich exclaims, taking out his katana and guarding Lila's body.

"Ulrich, please!" Yumi calls, trying to get through to him. "We need to get Lila to a way tower so that she and Aelita can recover their life points! You need to fight Xana!"

Possessed Ulrich grunts at her, momentarily seeming confused.

 _Override, sneak your way behind Ulrich,_ I telepathically command. The disk floats from its former position, moving by Odd as he's putting Aelita on his Overboard. He silently lets it slip by him, and it makes its way to Ulrich.

"Come on, Ulrich! It's me... Yumi," Yumi begs.

Ulrich grips his head in pain and starts screaming.

"You can do it, Ulrich! Free yourself from Xana!" she exclaims. My Override finally reaches behind Ulrich.

"Grab Lila and get out of the way Yumi," I tell her. She looks over to me and nods. Getting Lila, she carries Lila over her shoulders and runs to the Overwing.

This also causes Xana to reassert his control over Ulrich, but I grab onto him in the best full nelson I can do, keeping his arms and legs spread so he can't get the leverage to throw me off or dash away.

I mutter to him, "Sorry, Ulrich, but trust me; this'll hurt me as much as it hurts you."

 _Override, use your targeting systems to stun Ulrich and me,_ I mentally command.

Two small firing cannons descend from the underside of the disk. Jeremy had them implanted since my flute required time and concentration to use and inputted a stun command in the event of something like Aelita getting possessed happened again.

 _Now shoot us!_ I command.

The Override sends out blue lasers, hitting Ulrich and me, with the energy shocking us as it makes our muscles lock up in paralysis. We fall to the ground and black out.

 **Inside the way tower**

 **POV Lila's**

My eyes flutter open to see Yumi and Odd looking over me. I turn to my right and see Aelita is with me on the tower's lit platform.

"What happened?" I ask.

 _"Xana possessed Ulrich if you recall, and you managed to catch up to him. But the bug gave him an advantage and he overpowered you. The Scyphozoa got to you, Lila... it somehow took your magic spells away,"_ Jeremy explains.

My eyes widen, "It... it did?"

 _"Yes... I'm sorry..."_

"Where are Ulrich and Cameron now?" Aelita asks, getting up before helping me stand as well.

"Well... asleep," Odd answers. "Cameron stunned himself and Ulrich."

"I see. Jeremy, is the activated tower nearby?" Aelita asks.

 _"Yes. It is. Exit the Way Tower and the tower is due north."_

"I just hope Ulrich is back to normal after this," Yumi worries.

"I'm sure he will be Yumi," I reassure her. "Odd was when he was possessed. And so was Jeremy if you recall."

Yumi nods.

 **On the way to the tower**

"Something's been bothering me, Jeremy," Yumi speaks up. Approaching the tower in sight, while on our vehicles. There appear to be no monsters around.

 _"I think I know what you're going to say. I'm not detecting any monsters on the screens. It's as if… Xana's stopped using them for some reason,"_ Jeremy says, puzzled.

"Could it be possible that he's..." I trail off.

Stopping our vehicles, Aelita gets off Yumi's Overwing and looks to me.

"Lila?" she asks with concern.

"I think I know, or at least have a solid hypothesis, on what Xana's doing. There are less monsters around right?" I ask. They nod. "So it stands to reason the less monsters Xana dishes out..."

"The more power he can supply himself with!" Aelita realizes. "That's a really good hypothesis Lila."

"Thanks... let's just hope Xana decides to use more monsters soon," I say.

 _"I'm sure he will Lila. After all, it's not like Xana can have any influence over us now that his chips were destroyed. All he has are those_ spectre's _. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't be careful when you approach any tower, just in case his monsters do appear,"_ Jeremy reminds me.

"I know," I say.

Taking in our surroundings, we look at the activated tower and make sure it's safe for Aelita to go into. Seeing no monsters in sight, we nod.

Odd makes an exaggerated bow, "Your tower awaits you, princess."

"Thanks Odd," Aelita smiles and runs to the tower. She slowly walks into the tower, phasing through the outside as usual.

 _"Lila, seeing as how your and Aelita's room was destroyed, I'm going to launch a return trip. It'll be our second time, repeating the same day again,"_ Jeremy informs.

I nod, "Right. Go ahead Jeremy."

The tower's red aura turns to blue.

 _"Get ready... return to the past, now!"_ Jeremy exclaims.

A big white bubble engulfs everything, sending us back in time.

 **Earlier the same morning**

 **In the cafeteria**

 _I'm glad Jeremy used the return trip. There's no way we could have explained why our room was trashed to Jim. Well, Odd is certainly happy we get to eat breakfast a second time in a row. And now we don't have to get detention for missing classes,_ I think.

Looking at Odd, he's enjoying his bananas as Ulrich, Aelita, Jeremy, Cameron, and I look at him in disgust.

 _I'm never going to get used to his eating habits..._ I think and look to the front of the door to wait for Yumi to tell us the bad news again.

 **The next day**

 **By the vending machine area**

Ulrich and Odd walk over to us, and Ulrich looks at us.

 _Hearing the bad news a second time yesterday, still felt... horrible. I hope Yumi brings us some good news today,_ I think.

"Jeremy… Aelita…" Ulrich says at length. "I'm really sorry for almost misusing the return to the past program. If Xana hadn't possessed me… I probably would have done something really stupid. I was going to buy Yumi a lottery ticket, to help her family out."

"It's okay, Ulrich, we understand," Aelita replies. "We all want to help Yumi out, but we have to be more careful than that."

"And we're not mad at you. In fact, you should be thanking Lila. She told us you were planning on doing something stupid," Jeremy mentions.

Ulrich glances at me, "You did? But how could you have known?"

"I had a feeling. You were upset… and it seemed like it was something I'd do to help a friend," I shrug, trying to let him I know I understand his position.

"Well what's done is done, right?" Odd asks. He goes to get a drink from the vending machine. "Has anyone seen Cameron and Yumi?"

"Cameron said he had something to do," Jeremy replies.

"Wonder what that is? Anyway, has anyone seen Yumi?" Ulrich asks.

"Hey, you guys!" Yumi calls out, waving her hand. She runs up to us. Looking at her, she's out of breath. She breathes in and out, catching her breath before looking up to us.

"I've got some great news! My father got a job!" Yumi exclaims.

"He did? Where?" Ulrich grimaces. Odd takes his dispensed coffee and turns back to Yumi as well.

"My father's found work with Takahashi," Yumi informs. All of our eyes widen.

Ulrich looks nervous, "Takahashi? You – you mean, like… in Japan?"

"No silly! Right here!" Yumi exclaims happily.

"Yes!" Jeremy, Ulrich, Aelita, Odd, and I cheer.

Yumi messes Ulrich's hair, he smiles and blushes.

 _I'm so glad Yumi is staying! That's such a relief!_ I think.

 **POV Cameron's**

 **In the lab**

Typing on the keyboard, I look at the manual I took from Jeremy's room. It's the same one Ulrich probably used to activate the return to the past. Flipping to a page, I read the information on it. Getting into Lila's avatar coding, I change a few codes in Lila's avatar design.

The freight elevator doors open. Jeremy walks into the lab and I turn to face him.

"Jeremy this isn't what it looks like! I was just, uh-" I try to explain and look at him.

"Just what Cameron? What are you doing? Are you modifying one of the others' Lyoko avatars?" he asks, seeing several windows open on the monitor and Lila's avatar on one of them. He also notices his manual on my lap.

Nodding, I reply, "Yeah, I am. Look, since Xana took her magic away… I decided to make a few changes for her that I think she'll like. By the way, what's the word on Yumi? Is she staying?"

"Yeah, she is," Jeremy nods and goes over to the side of his chair. He looks at my modifications.

"These are pretty complicated. How did you manage to rework her design, and… What are these? Ice powers?"

"Yup. I figured since she can't use magic spells anymore, she can at least have ice powers. I figure this is the next best thing, and they don't need incantations to summon them. There will be a time limit on how long she can freeze a monster, however, couldn't get around that limitation. Your manual is pretty useful," I explain.

"But even if you did change Lila's Avatar, how? The avatars are all created by what the others dream about it, how could you have gotten around that?"

"I found a loophole. So, what are you doing here?"

Jeremy adjusts his glasses, "I wanted to take another look at the encryptions on Franz Hopper's diary. Mind if I take the keyboard?"

"Sure," I nod. Saving Lila's data, I close the manual and put it under my arm before getting off the chair.

Jeremy goes to sit on his chair and starts typing on the keyboard, running data on the encryptions.

 **Later that night**

 **In Lila and Aelita's room**

 **POV Lila's**

Typing quietly on my screen, I click on three charities that are raising money to help better the cities in Africa. I click on a few amounts, putting each of them at 50,000 Euros for each charity. I enter my debit card info in and donate the money to those charities.

Getting the confirmation that my transaction has gone through, I close the copy of my father's laptop. I put it and the debit card in my drawer, being careful to not wake Aelita, and quietly head up the ladder. Reaching my bed, I get in it and put my blanket on me.

 _Ulrich, I remember Aunt Yumi told me about this situation, and she said you had a big heart. Even if you did try to give the lotto ticket money to help Yumi's parents, you didn't use it for yourself._ Ulrich _, you were supposed to get that lotto ticket to help those charities…I figured since you couldn't donate the money because you didn't win it, I might as well. It's for a good cause, and I'm not really into having that much money on me anyways. I hope those charities get a lot of good things for the cities in Africa that need them,_ I think, and slowly start drifting my eyes so that I can go to sleep.

 **Next chapter will be Marabounta and have Lila's new look and powers! I will be returning to canon material now, so we'll see more of our favorite monsters returning!**

 **Author's note: About my updating schedule, I will be updating the chapters every 1-2 weeks so expect more soon! I am at school now so a bit busier than usual.**

 **Don't forget to review!**

 **LyokoWarrior1994**


	27. Marabounta

**This chapter was written by me and edited by AeroJester203.**

 **Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is copyrighted by Moonscoop.**

 **I only Lila. Mary is owned by AeroJester203. Cameron is owned by Undeadmonkey8.**

 **Enjoy the chapter!**

 _Marabounta_

 **The next day**

 **POV Lila's**

Waking up, I stretch my arms and yawn. Looking at the ceiling, I sigh internally.

 _What am I going to do? I don't have magic powers anymore on Lyoko… and even with a sword, I'm nowhere as good as Ulrich is. Ugh, I still can't believe they're gone. Just another thing in my life Xana's taken away…_ I think.

 **Later**

 **In Mrs. Hertz's class**

"Ants are social insects like termites or bees. A single individual isn't capable of any personal initiative. All of the decisions are made by the colony," Mrs. Hertz explains. Jeremy and I look down at the cases full of ants.

 _Ugh, no thank you… If Xana EVER possesses an anthill, forget trying to keep the return trips to a minimum, I'm setting them and anything around them on fire!_ I think.

"Ants receive a few simple orders, such as 'search for food, mark the path leading to the food, and follow a marked path,'" Mrs. Hertz continues. "As a result, we might have the impression that each ant is rather clever when, in fact, this has more to do with a collective intelligence."

"You mean an army of Sissi's could be intelligent? Heh, I don't believe it," Odd jokes, looking at the ants. All of us start laughing.

Sissi glares from her side of the table, "Very funny! Shut up bird brain!"

"Settle down, please," Mrs. Hertz firmly requests and we stop laughing. "As I was saying, thanks to their numbers, they manage to accomplish some fairly difficult tasks. Such as finding food, or defending themselves against an attacker. It would seem that ants would wage full-scale wars between different colonies."

Ulrich raises his hand, "What about killer ants? Do they exist?"

"Well… yes, maybe in movies, Ulrich," Mrs. Hertz's smile. The class starts laughing at him, Cameron and Jeremy included. Aelita and I don't, we know how dangerous Xana could be, especially if he got a hold of such insects. It never happened in my future, but this timeline is already dramatically different.

"But there are, in fact, army ants," she grants. "They destroy everything in their path. It's true, so you'd best stay out of their way."

"And, uh… do any of those filthy bugs live around here?" Sissi asks with poorly concealed unease.

"No, fortunately," Mrs. Hertz's answers. "Down there, the phenomenon is called marabounta."

"Phew, I'm glad I live in a country where there's no danger," Sissi says in relief.

Ulrich, Odd, Cameron, and I look at each other knowingly, smiling slightly at the irony of her statement. The bell rings and our classmates start leaving. Turning around I see Aelita has already left. Jeremy continues to look at the ants in the case.

"Lila?" Cameron asks.

I nod at him before turning back to the blond, "Right, uh, Jeremy are you heading out?"

"Just a sec," he answers distractedly.

Shrugging, I walk up to Cameron and we leave the classroom together.

 **Later**

 **In the cafeteria**

We're all at our usual table, looking down at the fish on my tray I can't help but shudder a bit internally.

 _I like fish as much as Odd does…. But I'm more of a vegetarian than a meat lover. Though I suppose it's not that bad_ , I think. Odd uses a fork to shovel more food in his mouth.

"Saturday is my favorite day. No school in the afternoon," he says between bites.

Ulrich smirks, "I like Sunday's better. No school at all."

"Mh-hmm!" Odd agrees happily while still eating his food.

Aelita notices Jeremy's silence, as he looks like he's lost in thought.

"You seem worried Jeremy. What's on your mind?" she asks.

"Franz Hopper's notes, Aelita. Cameron and I were at the lab last night. While there, I decoded an interesting part on a multi-agent system. It's the computer application of an anthill. It follows the same principle, you see. What happens is–" Jeremy starts to explain.

Odd interrupts jokingly, "Mrs. Hertz already bored us with the ant stuff. Don't you start now." He, Ulrich, Cameron, and Yumi all share a laugh.

"Seriously – this time I might have found a way to weaken Xana," Jeremy insists. "Let's all meet up after lunch, and I'll explain everything."

Aelita gets up from the table and taking her tray she says, "Well, normally I'd love to. But I have to finish my Italian homework. See you." As she walks away, Jeremy looks at Odd.

"I, uh, have to practice for a skateboard competition!" he excuses unconvincingly, hurriedly taking his tray and leaving.

"Yumi?" the blond asks, looking at her.

"Sorry, I've got swimming after school. Bye–bye," Yumi apologizes, getting up with her tray in tow and waving her hand goodbye.

Looking at Cameron, Ulrich, and me, Jeremy asks, "What about you three?"

"I've got to be somewhere," Ulrich says, looking away from Jeremy. I raise my eyebrow since he hasn't even tried to come up with an excuse.

"Oh yeah, where?" I challenge.

"The swimming pool," he answers curtly. Taking his tray, he leaves the table. My guess is that he's following Yumi.

Sighing at the brunet's departure, he raises an exasperated eyebrow at us, "I don't suppose you two want to…?"

"Sure, I'll go. Also… Cameron, why did Jeremy say you and he were decoding the diary at the lab last night?" I ask, looking at Cameron.

"Well… funny story, actually," he replies, then rubs his neck nervously.

 **Afterwards**

 **In the lab**

"Say what, now?" I ask, crossing my arms skeptically and looking at Cameron.

He rubs the back of his neck nervously, "I sort of… gave you new powers and a new avatar?"

"But how could you have done that? You would have to be very advance at computer programming, and know your way around the supercomputer since it's on a whole other level from the standard hardware, and-" I start to explain, but Jeremy interrupts me.

"He found a loophole in the computer manual. From there, I helped him a bit. But he did most of the groundwork. To be honest, this new avatar he created may be more useful than the last. The good news is we got rid of those pesky life point deductions. Bad news… your ice powers will only work for 30 seconds on a regular monster. 35 seconds on a big monster like the Tarantula, and 40 on the Scyphozoa. Still, it can hold them down for the others to take them out, and I did equip you with a bow and quiver of ten arrows just in case."

"That might be useful, then," I nod. Going over to his chair, Jeremy sits on it. Cameron and I stand at his sides.

"Here we go," he says enthusiastically, cracking his knuckles.

He begins typing on the keyboard at a quick pace. While he works, I notice something on the floor out of the corner of my eye. A small stack of ant magazines is on the floor by his chair.

 _Wow, Jeremy must be really invested in this program. I can't help but wonder if it'll work,_ I think.

 **Later**

Cameron and I continue waiting while Jeremy types away at his keyboard, the two of us having idled around the lab over the past hour or so. We both look from our positions seated against the wall when he abruptly stops typing.

"Is it done?" Cameron asks, standing up and stretching. I do the same and we both go back to Jeremy's side.

"I think so," he replies. "Now for the moment of truth."

Jeremy presses one more key, and two windows pop up. The program's information is on the right one, and the left shows some sort of purple blob. The newly created object begins to multiply, emitting smaller copies of itself. I can see how it's modeled after an anthill since they're practically rushing out of the original.

"Everything seems to be working," Jeremy says.

I nod, "That's good." Looking at the program's code, it keeps identifying each blob that is multiplying, the list growing exponentially.

"Transfer: Prototype," Jeremy says. Pressing a key on the keyboard, he starts the process of uploading it to Lyoko.

"Scanner." A bar on the window pops up then starts filling up.

"Virtualization." He presses a key on the keyboard again. Looking at the window, he says, "Hm. Come on."

The blob on the monitor continues to multiply, as the program continues to try and track its copies. Looking at the window, I can tell it's solidified into one blob.

Jeremy grins, "Yes! Franz Hopper, you are a genius. Well, what do you guys think?"

"Pretty nifty," Cameron nods.

"It's neat. I think this will gave Xana a run for his money," I joke.

"That's an understatement!" Jeremy exclaims happily. "He better watch out now!"

Typing on the keyboard, Jeremy brings up Odd's contact number on the monitor to call him.

Odd picks up a moment later, _"Jeremy?"_

"I have something amazing to show you guys! Can you get the others and meet, Lila, Cameron, and I at the lab?" he asks.

 _"Okay, as soon as possible. We'll be there."_

"Great, and don't forget to go and pick up Aelita," Jeremy says.

 _"Okay,"_ Odd says, hanging up. His picture disappears.

 **Later**

Looking at the freight elevator, the doors open to reveal Odd with Aelita. Looking at his arms, I see Odd is holding Kiwi.

"Ah, there you are. But where's Ulrich?" Jeremy asks.

Aelita walks over to my side, and Odd walks over to Cameron's, letting Kiwi down to the ground.

"He's sulking," Odd replies with a shrug. "I don't know what his problem is."

Looking at the open windows on the monitors, Aelita asks, "What's this program?"

"It's Marabounta," Jeremy replies. "My own creation."

"And what does it do, exactly?" Odd asks with his hand on his hip.

"It's a multi-agent system that functions according to the same principal as an anthill. But instead of ants, we have these little spheres whose main mission is to search for and destroy Xana's monsters," he explains. Kiwi goes over to the ant magazines and starts sniffing them.

"I get it. While the monsters are getting wiped out by your ants, Xana leaves us alone on Lyoko. Is that it?" Odd asks.

Jeremy nods, "You guessed it."

"Hey, that's great!" Odd exclaims with a grin.

Aelita doesn't look so sure, asking, "But, what if there's a real bug in the program?"

"I've been wondering that myself," Cameron adds.

I nod, "Me too."

"Impossible," Jeremy replies with a smile while lifting his finger. "Remember, Franz Hopper was a genius."

"Yeah, that's right! What do you say we go to Lyoko and check it out? If this thing really works, nothing can happen to us," Odd suggests.

"You read my mind Odd," Jeremy agrees. "Go to the scanner room; I'll transfer you."

"Awesome. I can't wait to see my new look on Lyoko, and test out my new powers," I say.

Odd looks at me curiously, "New powers?"

"Yeah. It was something Jeremy and I worked on last night," Cameron answers.

Odd and Cameron start going over to the freight elevator. Aelita closes her eyes as she stands nervously, Jeremy and I look at her with concern.

"If there's the slightest problem, I'll pull the plug. Promise," Jeremy reassures. Aelita opens her eyes and looks at him with a slight smile. The two of us then follow the boys to the freight elevator.

 **In the scanner room**

Aelita takes the middle scanner while Odd takes the right and I take the left, the three of us stepping in at the same time.

 _"Cameron you'll have to go last, hope you don't mind,"_ Jeremy says.

"Not at all," Cameron replies.

As I turn around to face forward in the scanner, the doors close.

 _"Transfer: Aelita, Transfer: Odd, Transfer: Lila."_

I close my eyes as the scanner starts to whir, the inner mechanisms spinning.

 _"Scanner: Odd, Scanner: Aelita, Scanner: Lila."_

The scanner continues to whir, and spin, the noise growing in volume.

 _"Virtualization!"_

The gush of wind and bright light engulf me, billowing my time machine necklace and hair. I'm virtualized to Lyoko.

 **Lyoko's Forest Sector**

Aelita, Odd, and I land in the Forest Sector. Looking at myself, I notice I'm wearing a navy-blue tailcoat, and the coattail has been shortened—probably so that it doesn't get in the way when I fight. Looking at the outside edges, I see that it's trimmed to have it taper into a point in the back, formed from the two halves.

On my back, I have a white quiver with at least ten black arrows. The quiver is attached to my shoulders via a leather strap going through a pair of slits in the back of my coat, along with the bow. Feeling around, my fingers touch a wide metal hook that the bow is wedged into. Looking back at my front, I notice underneath the tailcoat is a white collared shirt with a golden tie formed into a cravat knot in the collar. My pants are slim around my legs, but not quite formfitting. The bottoms of the legs are stuffed into my black leather boots, which sort of feel shallow. Around my waist under the tailcoat, there's a black leather belt with a silver buckle. Looking at my amulet, I can see that the gem in it has changed to blue.

 _"Virtualization!"_

Looking up, Cameron is virtualized and lands safely.

After standing up from his crouch, he looks at me, "Not bad. Wasn't sure about the outfit, but it works. What do you think of your hairstyle?"

"My hairstyle?" I ask, realizing I couldn't see my hair earlier. Feeling my head, I can tell that my hair has been shortened significantly, and only reaches the top of my neck.

"You look really neat Lila. Jeremy, I want an upgrade!" Odd complains.

 _"We'll see Odd. Anyways, you guys are south of the Marabounta. Take the path to your right. Sorry, but you'll have to go without vehicles. I don't have enough machine resources to bring them up. If there are any, watch out for the monsters. Xana may have his hands full, but you never know,"_ Jeremy chuckles.

"Roger-dodger, Einstein!" Odd replies.

We start running in the direction of the Marabounta. After a few minutes, Jeremy announces, _"A Krab at two o clock! Follow it, it's heading in the right direction."_

Looking across the path, we see the Krab heading our way and it passes us. Odd and Cameron go on ahead to follow it with Aelita and me close behind. They turn the corner, looking out from behind a tree, and stop.

"Jeremy I've got it!" Odd exclaims. "I can see the Marabounta!"

"Same here!" Cameron says.

 _"Well, what's it like?"_

Aelita and I catch up and take our own look. We gasp at the sight of the multiplied Marabounta enveloping the Krab, climbing its legs as it struggles to break free and cutting off its escape by encircling it and closing in.

"Pretty scary, honestly," Cameron replies.

Once it's fully covered with the dark gray substance, the Krab sinks into the layer of Marabounta below it like it's standing in quicksand, screeching before an explosion booms from within the virtual ant colony. We hear more whirring movements along with the buzz of Hornets and look to see more of Xana's monsters.

A Tarantula approaches the Marabounta, raising one of its front legs to fire at it, two blasts managing to vaporize small patches, but ultimately futile against the whole. The spheres attach themselves onto the arm of the Tarantula, causing it to struggle to shake them off before blasting a laser to destroy them at point-blank range.

The Hornets stay well above the Marabounta, firing from afar to try wearing it down. But a mass of the substance erupts upward like a low-powered geyser, bringing them down to the ground and consuming them.

Hearing a large object rolling along the ground, we look and gawk to see a Megatank of all things coming in. Xana must be getting desperate to find a way to destroy the Marabounta if he used the resources to create one of them.

Rolling its way in, the Megatank opens, revealing the eye of Xana and charging its laser wave. It fires against the Marabounta and cleaves a divide between them, the spheres in the way devirtualizing. But the colony simply continues forward as the split closes with new spheres to replace the lost ones. It closes up in an apparent effort to defend itself, but gets enveloped anyway and sinks down before exploding after a slightly longer period of time.

Odd turns to us, "I never thought I'd ever say it, but I really feel bad for Xana."

"That's for sure," Cameron nods.

Aelita seems unnerved, "I'll uplink you a visual Jeremy."

A few seconds later, and Jeremy says, _"It's working even better than I thought it would."_

"If you want my opinion Einstein, you've invented yourself a nasty piece of work," Odd says.

I nod, "I can agree to that."

Looking at the Tarantula, it screeches as it's finally engulfed by the Marabounta.

"Jeremy… I've seen enough. I want to come in," Aelita requests.

"Me too," I nod.

 _"Okay, you two. I'll bring you back. Lila once Aelita is there I'll start your devirtualization. Head southwest."_

"Got it!" Cameron and Odd exclaim before they start running in the indicated direction.

Aelita and I are about to follow when the Marabounta gets in our way.

We gasp as it starts moving closer, and I call, "Odd! Cameron! There's a bit of a problem!"

Turning back our way, Odd and Cameron look at us. The spheres continue to surround us.

 _"You guys what's going on?!"_ Jeremy asks worriedly.

Odd and Cameron start running to get to us, the former firing his Laser Arrows.

 _"Answer me!"_

As Odd fires a salvo of Laser Arrows, the Marabounta retreats slightly as its units are destroyed, giving Aelita and I room to move. Odd continues to fire at the swarm as we run away from it, Cameron moving with us.

"Of all the times my flute has to be on a cycle! Never using all the notes at once again!" Cameron exclaims, frustrated.

Odd soon catches up to us on all fours to fall into step next to us before standing up and aiming back as he runs at our speed now. I glance over my shoulder and see the Marabounta is chasing us.

"Laser Arrow!" he exclaims, firing off another arrowhead.

"Cameron, how do I use the ice powers?" I urgently ask. "Now would be a good time to use them!"

"Just think and release," Cameron answers.

 _Uh, okay. Ice powers… activate?_ I think. Feeling my hands getting cold, I notice a thin layer of frost beginning to form on them.

"Everyone get behind me!" I exclaim while skidding to a stop and turning around. Aelita, Odd, and Cameron move on ahead to put me between them and the Marabounta. Aiming my hands at the incoming swarm, I think, _Fire!_

Two spherical blasts of white energy tinged with light blue and wreathed in ice crystals shoot out of my hands, hitting the front line of spheres and spreading a crystalline layer of ice that spreads back and stops the Marabounta in its tracks. The rear portion backs off to keep from being frozen as well and mills about as vapor emanates from the ice coating the swarm.

"That'll buy us 40 seconds! Run for it!" Cameron exclaims.

Running away from the Marabounta, Aelita speaks, "Jeremy, the Marabounta is chasing Lila and me!"

 _"What?! But it shouldn't… it's only meant to go after Xana and his monsters."_

"That's what you said! So what happened, Einstein?" Odd asks as we continue running.

 _"I'm not sure, unless… Oh, Jeremy, you idiot!"_ he mutters to himself. _"It's my fault! It's the virus implanted in Aelita! And the link Lila has to Xana! The Marabounta think that they're Xana's monsters!"_

"Great, nice work, Frankenstein," Odd complains.

"Whose Franken-" I look at Odd. He and Cameron seem surprised that I don't know who Frankenstein is.

"Oh never mind, I'll find out in time," I say.

Looking back from behind us, the Marabounta has started to chase us again. Evidently, it determined that it wouldn't get frozen by going over its incapacitated portion. The still-thawing spheres are further back on the path.

 _Ugh… why does Jeremy like to make things that want to kill Aelita and consequently me?_ I think.

Odd has one hand over the other, ready to fire as he runs, "I thought we had nothing to worry about!"

 _"I was wrong."_

"Yeah, no kidding!" Cameron exclaims.

"Okay just head for the tower. I'll kill the program."

We continue running along the path as we wait to hear from Jeremy.

"Jeremy now would be as good a time as any!" I exclaim.

 _"I can't deactivate the program! It seems that the Marabounta doesn't want to die. It's become autonomous; it will submerge everything and everyone in its path,"_ Jeremy explains.

We look back at the swarm still chasing us persistently from a distance.

 _"I'll brief Yumi and Ulrich,"_ Jeremy announces.

We continue running along the path and connect to a path that goes in three different directions. We look at each path.

"Okay, good news: It looks like we lost the Marabounta," Cameron reports to Jeremy. "Bad news? I think we got lost ourselves."

 _"I – uh – sorry guys. Take off in the direction due west. The Marabounta hasn't hit that sector yet. In the meantime, I'll find a way to stop it."_

"Don't blow it okay?" Odd asks, "I don't want to end up as chewing gum!"

We start running again, knowing that we need to keep ahead of the swarm before we run out of places to go.

 **Afterwards**

Reaching the tower, we gasp as the Marabounta has covered the area all around it and begun climbing the structure itself.

"Jeremy, bad news," Odd says. "The Marabounta got here first. The towers are unreachable."

 _"This won't take long. I'll find a way to stop it! And, Ulrich and Yumi are on their way!"_

Aelita gasps, getting our attention to what she's looking at. The Marabounta has started to spread around us. Odd covers us as he begins firing his Laser Arrows. Taking out his flute, Cameron presses the button and it extends it into a three-piece staff. Using his staff, he guards us, and we begin backing away from the encroaching swarm.

As Odd continues to fire his shots, I look at the ground and realize the Marabounta has gotten a lot closer, narrowing the space between the boys and us. Aelita and I widen our eyes as Odd starts running to us. He goes over and fires his laser arrows at the Marbounta from a distance while Cameron stays close to guard us.

"Cameron, a little help!" Odd calls.

"Sorry, Odd, but all I can do is make sure this flute staff is ready for defending them! It's on a cycle!" he explains.

The Marabounta starts getting closer, Aelita and I back up against a tree. As we place our hands on the tree, the swarm starts to spread itself on it.

As we hurriedly back away from it, running out of space to move, Jeremy says, _"Careful! Xana is sending two monsters!"_

Looking up, Aelita and I see two Krabs being materialized, their digital frame being red before it's filled in with their details. They fully form and fall to the ground in front of us with heavy thuds. I ready my hands for an ice blast, while Aelita covers herself in fear.

However, the Krabs offers their legs and make no move to attack as the Marabounta draws closer. We stare for a moment until one of them drones in a strangely urgent manner. Nodding, the two of us climb on each of their legs. The Krabs swing us, sending us flying and over the Marabounta. We scream and hit the ground, right next to Odd and Cameron, who had managed to get out of their own stretch of the colony. The Krabs are devoured by the Marabounta, exploding like the others when they're fully submerged. Getting up, Aelita and I look confused.

"That's crazy!" Odd exclaims. "Those Krabs just sacrificed each other for the both of you! I don't get it!"

 _"That's weird…"_ Jeremy comments. Bloks start walking in, their mechanical legs whirring and clanking as they move toward the Marabounta.

 _What is going on exactly? Is… is Xana helping us? No, he couldn't be, that's ridiculous!_ I think in surprise. The Bloks start guarding us, whirling about to display another side before firing freeze lasers at patches of the Marabounta to hold it off. More whirring steps sound as a small group of Kankrelats move in single file to offer support.

 _"I think I understand,"_ Jeremy says. _"Xana knows he can't let Aelita die. He needs her memory. I believe that's the same for Lila since she's tied to Xana too."_

Looking at the Kankrelats that are on our right side, they open fire on the Marabounta.

Cameron readies his flute staff, "I just don't get it. What are they doing?"

"They're protecting us," Aelita whispers.

"In order to use us later," I remind Aelita with a shake of my head. I've seen too much of Xana's evil in the future to be taken in by the sight.

Jeremy chimes in, _"Aelita and Lila are right. Odd, use them as allies to defeat the Marabounta. Cameron, after this mission I'm going to make a secondary weapon for you. You'll be Aelita and Lila's last defense, should Odd and the monsters not succeed."_

"Got it, Einstein," Cameron says and readies his flute staff.

 _"Odd, Aelita, Cameron, Lila. Hang on. The cavalry is coming."_

Watching Odd fight with the monsters, they all fire their attacks at the Marabounta. The Kankrelats focus their fire on any chunks of the colony that have been frozen to remove them from the battle. Meanwhile, the Bloks continue freezing any pieces of the swarm that they can.

"Laser Arrow!" Odd exclaims and continues firing at the Marabounta, the arrowheads able to devirtualize small clusters of spheres with each shot fired. Looking to the right of us, I spot a Krab and it fires its larger laser blast, able to clear out bigger patches as it stands protectively next to us. The Marabounta tries its best as it tries to get closer to us.

More Kankrelats arrive, bringing the total up to seven as they line up in a row. Charging their lasers, they fire at the Marabounta to eliminate a scattered amount and push the swarm back slightly. Hearing the sound of virtualization, I look up and see Yumi's avatar forming in the sky before she drops down and takes her fan out.

"Hiya!" she exclaims as she throws her weapon at a Blok, slashing the eye of Xana and causing it to explode.

"No, Yumi, not them," Aelita says.

The fan goes back to her, and she catches it while looking to us for an explanation.

"The Marabounta is the one you want to go after," I explain and point to the incoming swarm.

Turning to it, Yumi's eyes widen, "Eck. What is that horrible thing?"

"One of Jeremy's bright ideas," Odd deadpans, glancing over his shoulder for a moment before going back to firing his Laser Arrows.

"The world has turned upside down," Yumi says, shaking her head. Taking her fan, she jumps in the air and throws it at the Marabounta. It slices through the colony, devirtualizing a small divide among them before it comes back to her hand.

"How it's coming, Jeremy?" Aelita asks.

 _"I'll never make it. I really am the biggest loser ever to walk on the face of the Earth!"_ Jeremy laments.

Aelita replies, "You couldn't have known that my virus or Lila's link to Xana would be a problem."

"Yeah, she's right, Jeremy," I agree.

 _"A virus! What if-"_ Jeremy starts to ramble before going quiet, likely working vigorously to get his idea ready.

The others continue to protect us. Taking her second fan out, Yumi throws both at once and they slice right through the Marabounta. Odd and the Kankrelats start backing up as they fire their weapons. The swarm is getting closer and begins surrounding us again. The Bloks move towards Odd.

"Whatever you do, don't let them make any headway. Attack from the rear," Odd orders.

The Krab protecting Aelita and I fires at Odd's command. Odd and Yumi are now protecting Aelita and I. Cameron continues to use his flute staff to guard us.

"You're a really good combat general Odd," Yumi compliments.

"It takes strategy you know? The only thing stupider than a Blok is two Bloks," Odd jokes. Yumi throws one of her fans at the Marabounta, slicing through it again.

As she catches it, she urges, "Jeremy move it! Things are getting a bit out of hand."

The monsters and Odd continue firing their weapons, but the Marabounta begins to engulf two Kankrelats, devouring them as the rest of the line is forced to back up or meet the same destruction. Using both of his paws, Odd fires off his Laser Arrows.

 _"I think I've figured out a way to destroy the Marabounta. Odd, I've inserted a code for a deadly virus in one of your arrows. If you hit a sphere with it, the whole colony will be infected,"_ Jeremy explains. Our eyes widen in surprise.

 _"But-"_ Jeremy starts to say, and Odd interrupts him.

Cocking his paw, he readies his Laser Arrow, "No sweat."

"Wait! It'll only work if you hit the first sphere! The one I transferred to Lyoko and created all the others. It's at the heart of the Marabounta."

Shaking his head, Odd asks, "Great, how am I supposed to reach the heart of the Marabounta? On a camel's back?"

The Krab makes a noise. Looking up at it, we see that it's looking at Odd.

 _"Odd it's the only way."_

Jumping onto it's back with a feline leap, Odd stands on it and extends his arm.

"Good luck!" Cameron exclaims.

"Thanks! And charge!" Odd exclaims.

The Krab and Odd start making their way across the swarm, the Krab moving as fast as it can to avoid too many spheres clinging to its legs.

 _Good luck, Odd,_ I think.

Yumi throws her fan at the Marabounta, slicing it up again. Aelita and I start backing away. Stepping into something, we look down to a part of the swarm has grabbed our legs and is climbing up.

"Aelita, Lila!" Yumi exclaims. Turning to us, she takes both of her fans and begins running to us.

"Hiya!" she exclaims. Throwing both of the fans, they slice through the Marabounta. Getting free from its grip, Cameron helps us move next to the Bloks. Yumi runs to cover the side of the incoming Marabounta. Aelita rubs her leg in pain while I do the same to mine.

"You two okay?" Cameron asks.

"We'll be fine thanks," I reply.

Aelita suddenly whispers, "Oh no."

Turning to where she is looking, we see Yumi devoured by the Marabounta. She devirtualizes before being submerged, the spheres falling back to the swarm with nothing to hold on to.

The Marabounta starts getting closer to us. Stepping in front of us, Cameron begins to swipe his flute staff across the ground. Each piece hit the spheres quick enough so that the Marabounta doesn't have time to react and grab the weapon. He continues to do this, as we back up. Hearing someone land behind us, we don't have time to look before Ulrich jumps into the surrounded area as well. He starts using his katana to attack the Marabounta as well. Cameron goes back to using his flute staff, attacking each side of the spheres in a flurry of motion.

 _Cameron's moving so quick… it's a three-piece flute staff. But a staff isn't accurate… it's more like the flute is a triple staff!_ I think.

The boys continue attacking the Marabounta. Getting my hands ready for an ice blast, I look at the swarm, a stray thought coming to mind.

 _I wonder why my father never talked about Marabounta before to me? Was he so ashamed by this project?_ I muse. The Marabounta starts moving upward, stacking on top of each other in an effort to engulf the two close-quarters fighters. Cameron is trying his best, switching back and forth between each segment of his staff as Ulrich continues to slash the Marabounta. Looking around us, the Marabounta is covering almost everything.

 _We barely have enough room to move!_ I think, concerned. _I know I'll just devirtualize and go back to Earth… but the fact that Xana is trying to keep me on Lyoko, means that he must need me to feel like I can trust him. But why would he want me to think that?_ I think.

A bright yellow light suddenly engulfs us. Using our hands, we shield our eyes from the intensity of it. Opening our eyes, we look across to see Odd smiling as it seems he's taken care of the Marabounta generator.

The remaining Kankrelat, Blok, and Tarantula all line up in front of us. Cameron readies his weapon, Ulrich readies his katana again, and I feel for the arrows in my quiver while reaching with my left hand for my bow. Strangely enough, they don't attack, and each lift a leg before curling it inward, the Tarantula bowing while the simpler monsters simply lean their bodies forward by bending their remaining front leg slightly.

 _What the heck?!_ I think. _Xana has no emotions! He shouldn't be expressing himself like this!_ I think, surprised by his actions.

"Look," Aelita says. We all lower our weapons.

Ulrich keeps a tight grip on his sword, though, warning, "Don't buy it, Aelita."

 _"Ulrich's right. The Marabounta is gone, but Xana and his monsters are still our worst enemy. He wants your memory at all costs Aelita. And Lila… he might want something from you too."_

The trio of monsters leaves with their usual mechanical gait. Odd joins us again as we look at them surprised.

 _Xana has Mary… what more could he possibly want from me?_ I wonder.

 **Later**

 **In the woods**

Yumi covers the manhole entrance. Odd, Aelita, Cameron, Ulrich, and I are next to Jeremy.

"Next time you plan on playing mad scientist, clue us in a little first. Okay?" Odd asks.

"Well, I really tried to. But you all of you had better things to do. Only Lila and Cameron showed up," Jeremy replies, looking at Aelita and Ulrich. He turns back to Odd, "But you're right Odd – because this time I was a big zero from start to finish."

"You found a way out of it Jeremy, that's what counts," Aelita smiles.

"Yeah, that's true Jeremy," I agree. Aelita and Jeremy smile.

 **Back at campus**

Walking back on campus, we start making our way back to the dorms.

"Well if it isn't the whole crew," Sissi says from a bench with Herb and Nicholas standing behind her. She stops reading her magazine and looks at us snidely.

"Well, if it isn't the brainless frog face," Odd retorts.

"Haha. You crack me up," Sissi says sarcastically. Herb and Nicholas look at Odd, annoyed.

"By the way, Ulrich, are you feeling better after what happened at the pool?" Sissi asks him.

Ulrich grimaces, "Cool it, Sissi."

"What happened at the pool?" Cameron asks.

"Oh, uh nothing," Yumi replies unconvincingly.

 **In the stairwell**

"So, what happened at the pool Ulrich? Come on tell us," Odd pleads.

Ulrich and Yumi turn around to exasperatedly reply, "Nothing!"

"What?" Odd asks defensively with a coy smile. Yumi and Ulrich ignore him and start walking up the stairs.

 _What exactly did happen?_ I think.

"I really wish I knew my flute staff was more like nunchucks. I would have used them sooner," Cameron sighs.

"It's okay, Cameron," Aelita reassures as we walk up the stairs. We'll come up with a good long-range weapon for you in time. Right, Jeremy?"

"Right," he answers.

"Hopefully, I'll get a chance to try out my weapon and powers more on the next mission! The ice powers are really awesome," I smile.

Cameron smiles back, "Glad you like them."

 _I do miss my magic spells though,_ I think.

 **That evening**

 **In Lila and Aelita's room**

Finishing today's entry in my diary while Aelita's in the shower, I close the book and lock it before putting it back in the desk drawer. I also see Mary's old container rolling around in there.

 _Xana… Even if you helped us today, I'll never forget what you did in the future or that you took Mary away from me,_ I mentally vow. _I don't know what you want from me, but it can't be anything good._

I also look at my cell phone, where she usually dwelled during the day. Even though it's one of the few things I have to remember her by, I know that Aelita didn't get a cell phone during her rough adjustment period in this timeline since I was there for her. Thinking over all the times where it would've been handy for her to possess her own, I make my decision. It may be one of the few things I have to remember Mary by, but without her, it's just a cell phone that I can replace. And besides, I know the other's numbers by heart. I can just use Mary's old cell phone, put their numbers in, and set up a new voicemail.

When Aelita eventually comes back in her pajamas and toweling off her slightly damp hair, I get her attention, "Aelita."

"Hm? Yes, Lila?" she asks curiously.

"You don't have a cell phone, right?" I point out before holding mine out to her. "Here, it'll come in handy in case you're in trouble."

"Lila, I couldn't possibly-" she protests.

I interrupt her, "Take it. I can just use Mary's cell phone. Please, I insist."

Aelita hesitates before nodding and gingerly taking the item from my hand,

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," I reply with a smile.

Author's note: Yes Aelita is getting the cell phone later a bit later than the show. Originally I believe she received her own cell phone as a gift from the others. However in my version of New Order, that did not happen. That was my mistake.

This scene was written by AeroJester203. As always, please allow 1 – 2 weeks for updates. Things are getting busier and busier in my personal life now, so that will be the time frame for our chapters **.**

 **Don't forget to review!**

 **LyokoWarrior1994**


	28. Common Interests

**This chapter was written by me and edited by Undeadmonkey8.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko, all copyrighting goes to Moonscoop.**

 **I only own Lila. Mary is owned by AeroJester203. Cameron is owned by Undeadmonkey8.**

 **This chapter will be mainly set in Cameron's POV for reasons of the show's episode.**

 _Common Interests_

 **The vending machine area**

 **POV Cameron's**

"Apparently he had no outside help whatsoever," Yumi says, finishing the story she was telling us. Scanning her finger across the choices on the vending machine, she presses a button. A cup dispenses, and then she presses another button. Her drink pours into the cup.

"Peter Duncan had no outside help?" Ulrich asks, in disbelief.

Grabbing her drink, Yumi looks at us, shrugging, "Yeah that's what they said on the radio."

"You know, ever since David Copperfield made the statue of liberty disappear, nothing surprises me anymore," Odd jokes.

"Shouldn't we be a bit concerned? Wasn't this guy some sort of kidnapper?" I ask.

"Yeah he was," Ulrich nods, "But I think the police can handle it."

"Speaking about the police, on the radio they mentioned something about a supernatural force," Yumi says, walking to us. She stops and takes a sip of her drink.

"You think Xana is involved?" Ulrich asks.

"Not a chance," Jeremy answers from afar. Looking at him, he, Aelita, and Lila are walking to us.

"The super scan doesn't show any activated tower," Jeremy says. They reach us.

"I hope you're right. Imagine public enemy number one under Xana's control. Talk about double trouble," Yumi worries.

"A public enemy? What did this Duncan guy do?" Odd asks.

"Oh nothing much. Fine art theft, safecracking, kidnapping, bank robberies," Jeremy lists, counting with his fingers.

"Wow… that's kind of scary," I say. Aelita grabs her head in pain, and Lila does too. They both drop their bags.

"Are you two okay?" Yumi asks.

"Yes – I – I just didn't sleep very well last night," Aelita answers, still holding onto her head.

"Me – too," Lila says, she lets go of her head. The bells ring signaling class.

"Don't forget, we have a math test. Will you two be alright?" Jeremy asks.

"I will," Aelita replies, she grabs her bag and Lila grabs her bag.

"Lila, you'll be okay right?" I ask, a bit concerned.

"I'll be fine. You know me," Lila smiles slightly.

 **Mrs. Meyer's math class**

Mrs. Meyer continues placing the exams on each of the other student's desks.

"As you all know, this exam covers the principles of division. I hope you've studied hard," she says. Looking at the exam, I see long division equations and a few others that aren't too complicated.

 _This should be a breeze,_ I think.

"Hey Ulrich, what's the last digit of a number divisible by 2 huh?" Odd whispers to Ulrich, a little too loudly.

"Zero," Mrs. Meyer answers, turning to Odd.

"Oh yeah, that's the answer. Well done ma'am," Odd compliments.

"No, that's the grade you're going to get if you keep trying to cheat," Mrs. Meyer says.

"Oh," Odd says.

Grabbing my pencil, I start writing on my exam. I choose one of the easy division questions I know I can answer.

 _Okay… so this should be the answer. Then the second question…_ I think, and continue writing down my equation to solve the test's equation. Mrs. Meyer walks by us, and she sees Jeremy smiling. She looks at him.

"Jeremy is there a problem?"

"I've finished ma'am," he answers. Grabbing the exam, Mrs. Meyer looks at it.

"I see. Good work! Excellent in fact Jeremy," she compliments. She turns to Lila.

"Have you finished your exam yet?" she asks.

"No, not yet ma'am. I'm a bit slow on things today," Lila replies.

 _I hope she's alright... she usually completes these exams at about the same time Jeremy does,_ I think.

"That's fine, there's still plenty of time left. Everyone continue on with your exams," Mrs. Meyer's says. Taking Jeremy's exam, she goes to her desk and places it on the desk. A gasp to my side makes me glance over at Lila as she starts grabbing her head in pain.

"Lila, what's wrong?" I whisper to her.

"I -uh-" Lila starts replying but then her eyes close. She and Aelita fall out of the desks and faint.

"Aelita!" Jeremy exclaims.

"Lila!" I exclaim. Getting out of my desk, I go over to Lila. Bending down, I check her pulse.

 _Bad, bad bad bad, this is really bad! Her pulse shouldn't be this faint!_ I think.

"We're going to need an ambulance here!" I shout.

"Right, I'll call for one right away!" Mrs. Meyer exclaims, she leaves the room. Some of our classmates start murmuring. Jeremy gets out of his desk and goes to check on her. Odd and Ulrich get out of their desks, and some of our classmates give us some room.

 **Later**

 **At the hospital**

Reaching the hospital, the paramedics take Lila out of the ambulance. Bringing her with Aelita, Jeremy gets out of the other ambulance. We start walking with the paramedics, and doctors who are bringing Aelita and Lila into the hospital on stretchers.

"Okay, what do we got?" One of the doctors ask.

"One thirteen - year old female, and 14-year-old. Both with irregular heartbeats," one of the paramedics explains and rushes them through the doors. Jeremy and I stop walking, as we can no longer see them. Going up to us, one of the paramedics look at us.

"Which of you can hold on to this for Miss Smith until she recovers?" The paramedic asks, holding Lila's weird cracked treasure chest necklace. It's her family heirloom, I've seen her wearing.

"I will," Jeremy answers. The man nods and gives the necklace to Jeremy. The paramedic goes back outside to the ambulance.

Looking around, Jeremy puts the necklace on him and under his shirt, getting it out of sight.

I raise an eyebrow, "Didn't know you were one for jewelry, Jeremy."

"Lila's very fond of this. I'm sure she's told you, it's an old family heirloom. It holds a lot of value to her. I don't want to put it in my pocket and lose it. Trust me, she'd be devastated," he explains.

". . . Well, okay then," I murmur, turning to look back at the doors, "Hope sh-they're doing okay." I ignore Jeremy's raised eyebrow and the heat rising in my face, instead turning away to ponder a sudden thought.

 _I've never seen Lila without that necklace, thinking about it. Wonder why it's so valuable? I mean sure, maybe sentimentally speaking she would be concerned because it's a family heirloom. But in reality, if it's really that special, why bother wearing it daily? I mean… what if she did lose it? I think something else is going on here with this necklace,_ I think.

 **Later**

Jeremy and I are in the waiting room with Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi. Jeremy has his head down. Looking at my adoptive father's watch, it's been at least a good two hours since Jeremy and I have been in here. Two doctors walk out of a room and come over to us. I look at them.

"So, how are they?"

"They're fine don't worry," one of the doctors' replies. We smile in relief, and the other doctor starts talking.

"They'll be alright, but it's an extraordinary case."

"Can we see them?" Yumi asks.

The first doctor who talked to us, replies after exchanging a glance with his partner, "I don't see why not. But not too much noise. They need their rest," he says. They start to walk away.

"Don't worry doctors. Everyone knows I'm quiet and calm," Odd smiles. Looking at Yumi, Jeremy takes off the necklace and hands it to her.

"Here, it'd be best if you give this to Lila," Jeremy says.

"Right," Yumi nods, she takes the necklace. She puts the necklace on her and underneath her black long-sleeved shirt.

 _This… this is weird right?_ I think to myself.

 **In Lila's and Aelita's hospital room**

The monitors continue beeping, as it monitors Lila and Aelita's heartbeats. Lila and Aelita are recovering on two beds.

"I have your necklace Lila. Keeping it safe, do you want it back?" Yumi asks.

"For now, I think it's best with you until I get out of this hospital bed. They might need to run more tests," Lila answers.

"How did your tests go? Were the results good?" Yumi asks.

"Completely normal," Aelita answers, a bit puzzled.

"Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you're not completely human," Ulrich surmises.

I cough pointedly into my fist and glance around the room, "Do we really need to be talking about that here, guys?"

"Could be the virus that Xana implanted in me," Aelita says.

"As for me… well…" Lila trails off, looking at me. "I'm not entirely sure."

 _Did she . . . that was hesitation. They've already told me about Lyoko and Aelita - what else could they possibly be keeping from me?_ I grimace, she'll tell me if it involves me.

For now . . . "Jeremy, have you found anything?"

"Dead call as far as Xana is concerned. No activated towers, although the super scan seems to have reset itself. It's not giving the right results," Jeremy says while typing on his keyboard and not looking at us.

"No classes this afternoon," Jeremy closes his laptop, turning to us, "I'm going to go and pay a visit to the factory, to check it out."

"I'll go with you," Ulrich offers. He is holding onto Odd's shoulder.

"Me too," I nod.

"I'll stay here. We can have a girl to girl talk for once," Yumi says. Aelita and Lila smile.

"Say Cameron… maybe after all of this… I can tell you what the necklace means to me?" Lila asks.

"Sure. I'd like that," I smile.

 **Later**

 **In the woods**

I pull the grate off the manhole entrance. Jeremy, Odd, and Ulrich climb down first. Following them, I close the grate. Climbing all of the way down on the ladder, I land on the ground. Jeremy, Odd, Ulrich, and I grab our riding equipment.

 _I could probably keep up with these guys on foot - maybe - but the scooter was definitely a good call. I'm glad I bought tennis shoes before rooming in with Jeremy. Much better than the cowboy boots I wore_ , I think.

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside the lab**

Jeremy wastes no time in beginning to type away on the keyboard. He brings up the super scan, and it starts trying to locate the towers.

"That's exactly what I was afraid of," Jeremy says, not turning to us.

"What?" Ulrich asks.

"The super scan bugged up. I'll find out why in a minute," Jeremy replies.

"The real question is, can you fix it?" Odd asks, getting closer to Jeremy.

"Well normally yeah," Jeremy answers, turning to Odd he continues: "But the debugging phase takes time. I don't know if it's a minor bug or something more serious. I –" he starts to ramble.

"It'll be quicker if we go to Lyoko ourselves and check it out. Especially if he's been messing with the scan." I head back to the elevator, "Drop us in different sectors if you can, Jeremy - if we have to check all of Lyoko, it's best to split up. Odd, Ulrich, you coming?"

"Right!" Ulrich and Odd exclaim, they run to catch up to me.

 **In the scanner room**

Odd and Ulrich went ahead of me, virtualized to the desert and mountain sectors, respectively. I tap my foot impatiently, waiting for the scanner to open,

"So, Jeremy, where are you sending me?"

 _"Ice Sector."_ Jeremy says over the speakers, _"And be careful - I'm using monster activity as a guess for where I need to drop you guys, so you'll have some Kankrelats to kick around unless you avoid them."_

"Wonderful," I mutter, stepping into the scanner as it finally opens up, "maybe splitting up wasn't a good idea after all."

 _"Well, it was your idea, and Ulrich and Odd took out a tarantula and pair of Krabs, so you've got a bar to reach. Now then, get ready!"_

The scanner doors close.

I close my eyes as Jeremy runs through the virtualization process, and brace myself just in time for the wind to hit.

 **Ice Sector**

I land and immediately throw myself behind a nearby boulder, listening for any activity. As promised, the clatter of a few metal legs sounds from close by, and I take a breath, steadying myself.

 _"Don't panic. I'm calling up the OverRide now. As you know I've changed it so that it tilts with your weight, and I added some primary weapon systems in there. So you've have that to fight the monsters with if you choose to. And your flute is fully online, so you've got plenty to work with,"_ Jeremy informs me.

"Awesome," I say, and looking at my flute I can tell all of the notes are indeed open again. My vehicle materializes, and I step onto the disc. I take the flute out, setting my fingers along the flute and turning, ready to blast the little cockroaches into oblivion,

"Any progress on the super scan?"

 _"Nothing yet - I think Xana's meddled personally with it this time, a normal bug shouldn't be this persistent."_

The OverRide whirrs as I rise over the boulder, and the squad of Kankrelats turns to face me, beginning to charge their blasts.

I'm faster. A note pierces the clear air, a wave of sonic energy emanates from my position, and five cockroaches are knocked onto their backs, firing uselessly into the sky.

"Done with the Kankrelats," I say, guiding the OverRide around the struggling squad, "Where are the nearest towers?"

 _"East-Northeast, then due West from there, then North-Northwest from there. I'm glad I got to change the way you drive your OverRide. Much easier now, with tilting your weight isn't it?"_ he asks.

"Sure is," I say. I put my flute back in its holster.

 _Though I think I have a better idea on how to find that activated tower,_ I think.

I begin to rise straight up until I'm above nearby features. The Ice Sector is spread out below me like a painting, the lack of atmosphere ensuring that I can see for what must be miles. East-Northeast . . . tower yes, red glow no. West from there . . . again, tower yes, activated, no. North-Northwest from there . . . bingo.

It's a good distance away, so I can barely see the tower itself, but the dull red glow stands out dramatically against the mixed blues around it,

"Found it, Jeremy. Mark the third one you just mentioned, going to confirm it now."

 _"Good job, Cameron - I'll let Odd and Ulrich know, and bring you all in."_

"Sounds like a plan Jeremy," I nod, and take a seat, guiding the OverRide towards the activated tower. The sector is quiet, and I get to it without further trouble. No monsters around it, which is . . . curious, but I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Which is why, when the sector begins dissolving like an acid rain is sweeping across the landscape, I wonder exactly what I'd done to deserve it.

"Jeremy!" I shout, standing up and urging my vehicle away from the dissolution of the dimension I was currently inhabiting, "Jeremy, please tell me you're there!"

Nothing. The OverRide's whir begins to grow louder, almost a shriek as I tilt my weight forward, pushing it past the speeds it was intended to fly at.

 _Note to self,_ I think in a moment of strange calm as the shriek cuts off and I'm sent tumbling to the ground from a dissolving vehicle. _Figure out a way to enable self-propelled flight on Lyoko. Also, immunity to the virtual sea would be a nice addition. Though probably impossible._

Then the ground below me vanishes, and my rational mind cuts out as I begin to fall. In a painfully ironic twist, as soon as the sector has dissolved to a point where it's just barely out of reach, it stops vanishing and reappears above me.

"Oh COME ON!" I scream, "Jeremy! Jeremy, tell me this means you're back online! JEREMY!"

A moment before I'm about to hit the virtual sea, I devirtualize in the nick of time.

 **Inside the scanner room**

The golden metal walls of the scanner appear around me. The scanners doors open, as Ulrich and Odd seem like they had a close call too.

It takes me a lot longer than I'd like to admit stopping panicking.

" _Sorry about that you guys. I had some trouble with the supercomputer's battery,"_ Jeremy explains through the headset.

"Bad luck? I was almost devirtualized forever," I say.

"Same here Einstein!" Odd exclaims.

"I think the three of us can agree that was _too_ close of a call," Ulrich says.

" _I'll explain everything once we're back at the hospital,"_ Jeremy says.

 **Later**

 **Back in the hospital**

 **Outside Lila and Aelita's room  
**  
Ulrich is sitting on the ground. Yumi, Odd, Jeremy, and I are standing.

"The nuclear battery is almost all used up. So, the supercomputer keeps failing, and pretty soon it'll turn off altogether," Jeremy explains.

"Oh, is that all? Then we just have to change the battery," Odd says.

"I . . . get the feeling that the Supercomputer runs on something more exotic than Double-As'," I say.

"He's right. The supercomputer is not the same as a Gameboy, Odd. You can't just pick up a bar of Uranium at the corner store," Jeremy retorts.

"Wasn't there a kind of emergency backup battery?" Ulrich asks.

"No, I checked," Jeremy grimaces.

"Xana is dying," Yumi says.

"So are Aelita and Lila. All of the account of that miserable virus Aelita has. And that link Lila has," Jeremy says.

We all groan.

 _If Lila has a link, why can't they unlink her? Is it similar to the virus within Aelita? And don't they both need antiviruses to rid themselves of Xana? Or am I missing something... Ugh... This is awful… if Lila dies I may never get to tell her how I truly feel. And if Aelita dies… Jeremy is going to be a wreck,_ I think.

"I'm going to get something to drink," Jeremy says, with his head down. He walks away. Yumi holds the necklace close to her chest, as a sort of self-comfort.

"Let's go in," I urge. Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd nod. Odd opens the door, and we walk into the room.

 **Inside the room**

Odd goes next to Aelita, and I go next to Lila. They're resting on their pillows.

"Hey, you two, is the best TV set they could find?" Odd jokes, trying to lighten up the situation.

"Don't bother trying to cheer me up. I heard what Jeremy said in the hallway," Aelita says, turning to him. Odd closes his eyes, feeling down.

"Yumi… if worse comes to worse… I need you to find a way to either hide the necklace. Or destroy it okay?" Lila asks, turning herself to see Yumi.

"But – are you sure?" Yumi asks, a bit surprised.

"I am yeah. We can't let Xana get his hands on it," Lila replies. She looks to me.

"I really want to tell you about it. Every bit of it," she tries to smile.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure you'll get the chance to," I say, trying to be optimistic.

 _That being said… why would you want to have Yumi destroy it? I thought you said it was an old family heirloom. Then… that must have been a lie…_ I think.

"I'll go look for Jeremy, see if he got his drink," Yumi says. She walks out of the room. We wait for her for a few minutes in silence, letting Aelita and Lila rest. The monitors continue monitoring Aelita and Lila's heartbeats. Yumi opens the door.

"Jeremy's left," she informs.

"But he can't just have left like that," Ulrich says.

The monitors continue beeping. Aelita and Lila gasp in pain, they flat line.

"Aelita! Lila!" Yumi exclaims.

In a heartbeat, I'm at Lila's side, grabbing her hand,

"Lila! Lila wake up!" _Please don't be - you can't die on me!_

Ulrich's phone starts ringing. Taking it out of his pocket, he presses the answer button and answers it.

"Jeremy, where are you? Aelita and Lila just had another attack!" Ulrich informs. He pauses for a moment.

"You did what?!" he exclaims.

He starts pacing the room, as he is talking to Jeremy.

"That means Aelita and Lila are safe too then. Fantastic!" he exclaims in relief. He stops pacing and looks at us.

"Aelita and Lila's hearts can't take a lot more of this."

 **Afterwards**

 **On the bridge**

Ulrich is carrying Aelita on his back, while Odd is carrying Lila on his back. Yumi and I continue running with them.

 _I know this might technically make us criminals… I mean we did kidnap them from a hospital. But… this is important. We are trying to be the heroes here, after all, can't do that without them,_ I think.

 **In the scanner room**

Aelita and Lila have woken up. They're standing in front of the scanners. They seem to be feeling better.

 _"Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, Cameron. Are you there? Tell me you're there,"_ Jeremy worries. We all look at each other.

"We're there," Odd informs.

Jeremy sighs in relief.

"We're in the scanner room," Yumi says.

 _"Are Aelita and Lila okay?"_ Jeremy asks.

"Couldn't be better," Aelita answers.

"Same here Jeremy," Lila replies.

"Launch the procedure for Yumi, Aelita, and Lila. They'll deactivate that darn tower. And the three of us will take care of Duncan," Odd says.

"Right, let's go," I say.

"Hey… thanks for everything Cameron," Lila smiles.

"No problem," I smile back.

 **POV Lila's**

"Here Lila," Yumi says, taking the time machine necklace off her. She hands it to me and smiles.

"Thanks, Yumi. I'm glad I can rely on all of you." I put my time machine necklace back on. I zip up my pink magenta jacket, so it covers the time machine necklace fully, leaving the chain part seeable only.

Odd, Ulrich, and Cameron head back up to the lab, using the freight elevator. We step into the scanners.

 _"Transfer: Yumi, Transfer: Aelita, Transfer: Lila,"_ Jeremy starts. The scanners doors close.

Closing my eyes, the scanner continues spinning. It starts humming.

 _"Virtualization!"_

A bright light and wind engulf me, billowing my hair and lifting the chain of my time machine necklace, slightly. I'm virtualized to Lyoko.

 **Ice Sector**

Opening my eyes, I see Yumi, Aelita, and I fall. We land safely on the ice.

 _"You should see the tower,"_ Jeremy says.

Scanning around, the three of us look at the tower.

"Over there," Yumi points.

Aelita frowns, looks back, and takes a step behind us, pointing, "Kankrelats!"

Yumi and I turn to them. There are five lined up.

"Haven't seen you guys in a while!" I exclaim. The Kankrelats start charging their lasers, and I ready my hands for an ice blast. The Kankrelats fire off their lasers and I unleash an ice blast.

The ice freezes the lasers in midair. Yumi and I start running at the Kankrelats. Grabbing my bow, and taking out the arrow, I put the arrow on the bow. Holding the arrow I pull the drawstring back, and I release the arrow. It flies to the Kankrelat. Yumi takes her Tessen fans out.

The arrow hits the Kankrelat, and it explodes. Throwing her Tessen fans, they fly at two Kankrelats. Looking above the lasers that were frozen, they become unfrozen.

Looking back at Aelita, she is able to dodge each of the lasers. I run up to her and guard her as I pull out another arrow from my quiver. Yumi's Tessen fans slices through the Kankrelat, it explodes. The Tessen fans return to Yumi, and she catches them.

Aiming at the other kankrelat, I put my arrow on the bow. Holding the arrow, I pull the drawstring back and I fire off my arrow at it. The arrow flies pass Yumi and hits the Kankrelat in the target eye.

 _Hey, I'm pretty good at these!_ I think happily.

Grabbing her fans, she cartwheels back over to us. The three remaining Kankrelats continue to fire at us. I put my bow back on its hook.

"Jeremy, we're going to need our vehicles," Yumi informs. The Kankrelats start charging their lasers and fire them at us. Yumi blocks the lasers with her Tessen fans. I use my ice powers as I try to freeze them one by one.

 _"Your rides are on your way."_

Yumi continues to block the three Kankrelat's attacks. With each block, they become heavier and faster. She misses a laser, and it hits her. Aelita tries to grab her, and Yumi almost falls down. Her body starts to spark. I continue to try and fire off a small ice blast. Looking at the frozen lasers, they start unfreezing.

 _"Yumi you're down ten life points! Your vehicles are materializing!"_

Taking my bow off its hook, I put another arrow on the bow. Holding the arrow, I pull the drawstring back and launch the arrow at the Kankrelat. It flies to the Kankrelat, hitting it, and it explodes.

Our vehicles materialize. Putting my bow back on its hook, I hop onto my broomstick. Aelita and Yumi get onto the Overwing. We take off, leaving the two remaining Kankrelats alone. We fly along the path and soon see the activated tower.

 _"Jeremy, we're close to the activated tower,"_ I inform.

 _"Great."_

We continue to fly our vehicles, and getting closer we see two Tarantulas.

"Two monsters in view," Yumi says. Yumi, and Aelita get up close to the Tarantula. I hang back.

Waving at the Tarantulas, Aelita almost laughs at the Tarantulas. They fly past them. One of the Tarantulas goes off to follow them. Speeding my broomstick, I ready my hands for an ice blast.

Charging them, I aim my hands at the Tarantula as it's about to launch its lasers at me. Unleashing my ice blast, I use my broomstick and command it to fly around. Somehow, I still have a link to it telepathically, and I continuously freeze the Tarantula but keeping its head open so I have a clear view of the Xana target eye.

I get off my broomstick. Taking my bow off its hook, I grab an arrow from my quiver. I jump back and put the arrow on the bow. Holding the arrow, I pull the drawstring back.

Releasing it, I fire off my arrow at the Tarantula's head. It cracks. Taking another arrow from my quiver, I fire this one off again and the Tarantula's head cracks in two. Taking one more arrow from the quiver.

I pull the drawstring back and notice the Tarantula is starting to unfreeze. I release my arrow, and the Tarantula breaks free. It fires its lasers at me, and I'm hit. The arrow hits the Xana target eye just in time, and the Tarantula explodes. I fly into the air and devirtualize in a cloud of pixels.

 **Back in the scanner**

Opening my eyes, I'm back in the scanner and the scanner opens. Getting up, I rush up the ladder shoot.

 **Inside the lab**

Duncan has taken both Ulrich and Odd out. He's a bald man, with rectangle glasses and has a menacing look on his face. He appears to be in his mid-forties. He also has a blond beard and is at least six feet tall.

Cameron guards Jeremy, as Duncan is trying to get to them. He then turns to me. He looks like he's about to start running at me, but using both of his hands and forming them into a fist, Cameron hits Duncan in the back of the head. He falls to the ground and we take a collective sigh.

 **The next day**

 **Back at Kadic**

 **By the vending machine area**

Looking at the newspaper, Yumi starts reading it.

"Peter Duncan was found in front of police headquarters. The police are investigating, but for the moment don't have any leads as to how the escaped prisoner outside the police station." She stops reading and lowers the newspaper.

"Even if we did tell them the truth, they would never believe us," Ulrich says.

"That's for sure," Cameron nods.

"You're right. That's how it is for unsung heroes like us. We've got to remain in the shadows. I guess that's what being a true hero is all about. But someday, everyone is going to know just how brave we are. We'll reap the real benefits and rewards, true heroes deserve," Odd says, lifting his finger.

"Hey, speaking about a reward, I just saw Mrs. Meyer," Jeremy mentions.

"Uh – oh," Odd grimaces.

"She gave me the results of the math test," Jeremy says.

"Uh – great. What did I get?" Odd asks.

"8,650 plus 51 minus 10,000, plus 1,299," Jeremy answers.

I smile.

Odd closes his eyes.

"You mean I got uh… uh… wow! I got a 100?" he asks, opening them.

"Uh no. Zero," Jeremy replies.

Odd slouches with disappointment. Ulrich walks over to Odd and puts his hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry Odd, one day everyone is going to know how brave you are by not studying. And you'll reap the rewards an unsung hero like you deserve," Ulrich says.

"But don't hold your breath," Yumi says. We all start laughing at that, minus Odd.

 **Later**

 **In the park**

Taking Cameron to the park, I look to see no one is around. I unzipped my jacket earlier, so I can take off my necklace with ease.

 _I hope I'm not going to regret this…_ I think.

"So… I'm about to tell you the truth okay? And you may want to sit down for this one," I say.

"Okay…" Cameron trails off, sitting down on the bench.

Taking my necklace off, I hold it in my hand and let Cameron get a good look at it.

"Cameron…. The reason why Jeremy and Yumi wore this necklace at the hospital is that…" I trail off.

"Is that?"

I sigh, and gulp a little.

"It's a time machine. I'm a time traveler Cameron."

 **How will Cameron react? Find out in the next chapter!**

 **Author's note: At this point in time Aelita should have been thirteen in the show. However, for some unknown reason, there was a dubbing error and her age was 12 years old. I have fixed this error to go along with the story. Right now Jeremy is 12 years old and is just a couple of months younger than Aelita since he turns 13 in Franz Hopper. As of right now, this is still February in the story since the Saint Valentine's Day chapter took place, and we are in the year of 2007. As always keeping track of the timeline for this story is very important and Lila is still fourteen because she'll be turning 15 in October, which would only be about seven and a half months away from now story wise. So give or take that would be the beginning of Season 4 of Lila's Journey. Just needed to clarify this.**

 **Don't forget to review!**

 **LyokoWarrior1994**


	29. Temptation

**This chapter was written by me, edited by Undeadmonkey8, and edited by AeroJester203.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko. All copyrighting goes to Moonscoop.**

 **I only own Lila. Mary is owned by AeroJester203. Cameron is owned by Undeadmonkey8.**

 **Author's Note: Do not skip to the end of the chapter to see why the story has been changed to M. You have been warned. I will say this, the story will stay is in its typical T rating… so on that matter…**

 **Enjoy!**

 _Temptation_

 **In the park**

 **POV Lila's**

"I'm…. I'm a time traveler, Cameron. Okay? That's the truth," I say.

Cameron eyes widen at me before he looks at the necklace.

"Huh," he says, trying to process the information. "Okay, so, Lila, I think you're great, but . . . I'm gonna need proof of either longer-term time travel than we dabble in or, like, a bill of mental stability from a licensed psychiatrist."

I nod, "I know. Come on, I'll show it to you in the supercomputer room."

I put my time machine necklace on, and slip it under my shirt for a change since I probably should hide it better.

 **Later**

 **In the supercomputer room**

The lights turn on as we exit the elevator and walk into the sub-basement. Taking my necklace off, I look at Cameron.

"Take a step back okay?"

He nods while doing so.

Pressing the button at the bottom of the chest, I place the necklace on the ground before hurriedly stepping back to give it room. It starts to glow as it whirs with sounds of shifting metal as it unfolds into its true form in preparation for growth. The glow fills the entire room as the din grows in volume, and I casually close my eyes while Cameron gasps and blocks the light with his hand. The noise falls silent save for the remnant of a high-pitched whine while the glow fades away to reveal the beaten-up time machine.

Cameron stares for a few extended moments before finally speaking, "Well . . . I dunno about proof of time travel, but that's either actual magic – in which case, gimme – or it's futuristic bigger-on-the-inside technology. Either way, this feels like a bad Peggy Sue."

"Peggy who?" I ask, confused.

He glances over at me, "Oh, uh, literature term, I guess? It's a phrase describing a story where someone - usually a teenager - travels back in time with future knowledge to avert a terrible danger that killed them all and/or conquered the world."

"Ah, well… this is real life, Cameron. I didn't initially warn the others about Xana—couldn't interfere with the timeline. At least… that was the initial thought."

"What's the new thought?" Cameron asks curiously.

"I believe I'm in the past… but not the past of my timeline. This past… is kind of like a second timeline."

He nods, "Alright, working with Multiverse Theory, then—got it." He takes a deep breath, settling his nerves, "Okay… start from the beginning, about everything, please."

"Well…. I will. It's a lot to process okay?" I look down in thought, "I'm still processing something else too…"

"What's that?" Cameron asks.

 _The truth that I'm an AI… I really hope we can still be friends after this,_ I think.

"Let's sit down. This is going to be a lot of information to take in all at once," I suggest. He nods. We go over to the sit by the wall, and I begin my explanation with my arrival in this timeline.

 **A week later**

 **In the forest sector**

Odd and Aelita ride on Odd's Overboard while I follow on my broomstick, Hornets following close behind us. Taking an arrow out, I clasp my legs tighter around my transport to keep from falling while turning around to aim. Pulling the drawstring back, I release the arrow, managing to shoot down one of the monsters for it to explode as it's left behind.

"Lila, dodge!" Odd calls.

I see him veer his Overboard and look forward to seeing a tree. Hurriedly grabbing the handle of the broomstick with both my free hand and more awkwardly with the one holding my bow, I barely bank around the trunk.

 _Ugh, this thing wasn't made for riding with a two-handed weapon,_ _I mentally grumble. I should probably ask Jeremy if he can start programming a new vehicle for me._

Odd turns around and fires off a few Laser Arrows. Two of them hit the Hornets causing them to explode. He turns back to the front and concentrates on his driving.

Aelita speaks up from behind him, "Say, Odd, why do you always have to wait for the last second?"

"Because it's more fun, that's why," Odd answers.

"No it's not, Odd," I retort. "It's better to get rid of the monsters sooner rather than later. This is why we didn't let Aelita go on the Overboard that one time. You aren't careful like you promised you'd be."

Odd rolls his eyes in response before we hear more lasers incoming. We bring our vehicles down to dodge, swerving left and right to make ourselves more difficult targets. The Hornets move upward to get a better angle and fire more shots.

Two more lasers fly at us, but Odd and I easily dodge them with our vehicles. We continue dodging each laser the Hornets fire at us while weaving through the trees. One of the Hornets explodes from crashing into a tree.

"Is this what you call fun? Looks more like insanity if you ask me," Aelita comments.

"Oh, really? You mean there's a difference?" Odd asks with a laugh. I roll my eyes. One of the Hornets focuses on firing its laser at Odd and Aelita, the feline boy managing to keep ahead and dodge as Aelita ducks down.

Turning around, I take out another arrow and let it fly. The arrow hits the airborne monster, sending it crashing down to explode. Yumi, Ulrich, and Cameron finally meet with us, flying in from a different direction and coming down to the intersection.

"Those Hornets were a pain," Cameron complains.

"Yeah, no kidding. We must have taken out five, at least," Ulrich mentions while touching down with his Overbike. While it can fly, it maneuvers better on the ground.

Yumi shakes her head "If that. Xana's definitely trying to come out on top today."

As we continue along the path, Jeremy says, _"You guys are close to the tower."_

"Bummer, I was just starting to enjoy myself," Odd says.

 _"Careful, behind you!"_

Looking back, we see two more Hornets incoming.

"Oh, I've had it up to here with those bugs," Cameron growls before leaning his body and swinging the Override around. He didn't seem to need concentration to steer it anymore; Perhaps he's had Jeremy change his vehicle to react to his weight distribution, just like Odd does with his Overboard.

"Weapons system, engage!" he exclaims. Two small firing weapons emerge at the front of the Override. He moves it into an upward position.

"Lock on! Aim… Fire!" he exclaims. He fires off two green lasers, and each of them destroys the Hornets. We turn back to face forward and concentrate on our flying.

"Nice job," I compliment.

He looks at me and nods, "Thanks."

Yumi flies her Overwing closer to me and whispers, "Is everything okay with you two?"

"Yeah," I nod, but she doesn't seem overly reassured.

 **At the tower**

Reaching the tower, we see that it's surrounded by a small pool of water with tree stumps for Aelita to jump across. We suddenly hear the drone of the Scyphozoa and more buzzing sounds.

"Not again," Ulrich complains. Looking at the Scyphozoa as it appears with another group of Hornets, it continues making its way over and I start running at it.

 _If I can destroy it here and now, I can free Mary!_ I think.

Aelita starts going to the tower as Yumi, Odd, Ulrich, and Cameron face off the incoming Hornets. Blocking the Scyphozoa's way, I unleash a full ice blast at it, a wave of frost freezing it in midair as it continues floating.

 _I have about forty seconds! I've got to make this count!_ I think.

With the Scyphozoa frozen, I take out two arrows. Placing them on my bow, I pull the string and release them. The arrows fly at the head of the Scyphozoa and hit it, making it screech in pain from within the shell of ice.

"Now a few more, and…" I trail off when I reach back to my quiver only to find nothing. Looking back, I call, "I'm out of Arrows! Jeremy reload me!"

 _"It'll take some time, hang on!"_

Hearing a cracking sound, I look back at the Scyphozoa, the ice has begun to split as its tentacles begin curling with the shell weakening.

"Uh-oh…" I gulp. The Scyphozoa frees itself and grabs me. It puts its tentacles on my head, and my vision starts to darken.

 **Somewhere**

Opening my eyes, I realize I'm in the same place I was when I saw Mary a while back. Looking at her, I can tell she seems a lot weaker now, her skin paler as well.

 _"Mary…? What happened to you?"_ I ask.

 _"Xana's been torturing me for information… I've been trying to hold out the best I can. I'm not sure why he's letting me talk to you right now. But listen, you need to keep an eye on Jeremy. I assume he's been acting strangely?"_

 _"Yes… I mean he's been using the return to the past program more than he needs to."_

She nods, _"He created a device that he feels will help his brain think more critically. He's going to end up in an ambulance, and Xana's going to try to kill him soon."_

I nod, _"Thanks for telling me this, I'll keep an eye out. Say… I've been meaning to ask, whatever happened to the time machine doors after we crashed landed? When we went to the Hermitage for the first time as a group… they weren't there."_

 _"Ah, yes… I had to dispose of them; I melted them down before burying them outside of the city. You never bothered asking, so I felt it wasn't necessary to tell you that."_

 _"I understand…. Also, what did you want to tell me on the day Aelita was materialized?"_

Mary looks at me, _"I can't tell you. Not here, anyway… and besides, it looks like you're going now."_

Looking down, I see my body starting to fade.

 _"Mary, wait, I-"_ I start to say, but everything becomes white.

 **Back in the Forest Sector**

Opening my eyes, I see everyone else looking down at me.

"She's okay, Jeremy," Aelita informs as Yumi and Odd help me up.

"The Scyphozoa got me," I inform.

"We know," Cameron replies. "But it wasn't trying to take anything from you, so that's good."

 _"I'll start the return and get all of you home,"_ Jeremy says.

Yumi puts her Tessen fans away while looking up, "Really? Why? Xana didn't even have time to launch an attack on Earth."

"Uh, may I remind you that going back in time makes Xana stronger?" Ulrich adds.

 _"I know what I'm doing. Alright?"_

"Well if you know, then explain it to us," Odd insists.

Cameron crosses his arms, "Yeah."

 _"Just trust me, okay?"_

"Jeremy, that's not the point," I say.

"Jeremy why don't we-" Aelita starts to say but Jeremy interrupts her.

 _"That's my final answer."_

Odd looks at Ulrich, who shrugs. Aelita, Yumi, Cameron, and I look at one another, concerned with Jeremy's behavior.

 _"Return to the past, now!"_

A big white bubble appears, engulfing all of us.

 **Earlier the same day**

 **By the vending machine**

Ulrich holds his drink while leaning against the wall, having just moved aside from the vending machine to allow Yumi to get hers.

"Jeremy is becoming a pain," he grumbles. "He just flies off the handle for no reason at all. He's like a time bomb."

"Maybe he's got a lot on his mind," Cameron suggests. "He's been acting the same as always in our room."

Yumi looks at us while her drink dispenses, "Who knows? Maybe he's got family problems."

"Or else: he only just realizes he has a split personality and that when the moon is full, he becomes the son of Dr. Shrank, capable of grafting animal body parts onto human beings," Odd wildly speculates. putting his hands up like a monster, "And he now knows he must face a fate worse than death."

Yumi rolls her eyes and grabs her drink from the vending machine while Ulrich raises an eyebrow at his roommate.

"You've been watching Horror at the Hospital again, huh?" he asks.

"How can anyone pass up such a fantastic program?" Odd asks. All of us can only shrug since it was a fairly entertaining, if cheesy, horror series. He'd shown us only a few episodes.

Ulrich apparently sees something out of the corner of his eye and turns his head, drawing our attention to Jeremy's approach.

"Oh, there he is," he notes.

"How's life, Einstein?" Odd asks. Jeremy ignores him as he goes to the vending machine to look at the selection of drinks.

"Where were you?" Aelita asks.

"In mine and Cameron's room," he answers tersely. "Why? Is there a law against it?"

"Jeremy… relax. We were just concerned," I reply.

"I'm a big boy now, so just get off my back," he says, looking at me with an annoyed expression before walking away without a drink.

"Hey, you may just have something there with your Doctor Shrank theory," Ulrich says.

Odd stands up triumphantly, "Ha, see, I told you so!" The bells ring and he slumps slightly as he begins walking away, "Right, in the meantime, I've also got to face a fate worse than death."

"What's that?" Ulrich asks.

"Mrs. Meyer's class."

 **In Mrs. Meyer's class**

Odd and Ulrich are sitting together, Jeremy and Aelita seated behind them. Cameron is sitting a few seats away from me, and I'm by myself.

 _I know Cameron is still processing everything I told him… but it feels like we're getting distant. Ugh, did I make the wrong move in telling him the truth?_ I think. I start writing down some notes as Mrs. Meyer talks.

"Sales property allows us to calculate length. For example, in a triangle marked ABC," Mrs. Meyer lectures, connecting points A, B, and C into a triangle. Looking at the board, I write down the diagrams.

"With straight lines called RS and BC which are parallel. First, we calculate X then SC. Hypothetically, ABC is a triangle. R is a point on B. N is a point on AC," she continues.

"56 equals 7 times 8. And that's it; it's rather simple in the end," Mrs. Meyer says.

"Ma'am?" Jeremy asks, getting up. I look to him and notice he's holding his hand to his head as if nursing a headache.

"Yes, Jeremy? Question?"

"May I go to the infirmary?" he asks.

"Oh, yes, of course," Mrs. Meyer replies.

Jeremy starts walking through the aisle and passes Aelita.

"Do you want me to come with you?" she asks.

"No," he answers without turning to face her.

Aelita's eyes widen, and I look at Jeremy as he goes to the doorway.

 _What is going on with you Jeremy? Is this machine Mary mentioned really making you act differently?_ I think.

 **Later**

 **At the cafeteria**

Jeremy is still missing as we get our lunches.

Taking trays that each have half a fruit and two boiled eggs, we start going down the line for Rosa, the lunch lady, to add the rest of the meal along the way.

"Jeremy skipped gym class?" Yumi asks.

Ulrich nods, "And history class too."

"And now he's skipping lunch," Cameron adds.

"Skipping gym class and lunch I can understand. But skipping history is not Jeremy's style at all," Odd says.

Ahead of us, Aelita has been quiet, but abruptly shoves her tray into Odd's possession, "I'm going to check his room."

"Okay, please keep us updated," I say.

"Will do," Aelita says and leaves the cafeteria while Odd gleefully picks up her lunch as well.

 **Later**

Looking at Odd, he is still eating his lunches while most of the students have already left. Cameron grimaces at Odd and shakes his head. Ulrich has his head on his hand in a picture of boredom, and Yumi looks at Odd.

"You sure you're done now?" she asks dryly. Her phone starts ringing. She takes it out and answers it. There's a short pause.

"Okay Jeremy," Yumi says, hanging up. "Xana's launched an attack. We have to go to the factory." Yumi starts getting up.

"You over there! Sit back down!" Rosa exclaims, having been clearing the tables with a cart to carry the plates and other dishes. Looking at her, we get up in confusion.

 **"I said… sit down,"** Rosa repeats, her voice distorting. She takes a plate from her cart and throws it at us at high speed. Yumi and I dodge it, the projectile whistling through the air before smashing against the wall.

"Whoa!" Odd, Ulrich, and Cameron exclaim ducking down before more can fly. Green electricity comes out of Rosa's hand, and she starts sending more plates at us.

Crawling under the table with the boys, Odd says, "I shouldn't have said her mashed potatoes look like barf today, I guess."

"If you ask me, this looks more like a Xanafication. Cover us; we'll try to reach Aelita and Jeremy at the factory," Yumi says.

"No problemo. Ulrich, Cameron. On three. One… two.. three!" Odd exclaims.

The three boys stand up and start throwing their own plates at Rosa. Yumi and I crawl out before breaking into a run past the possessed woman to exit the cafeteria.

 **In the woods**

As we're running, I send a text to Aelita. _SOS Xana. Yumi and I are on our way to the factory._ Getting a text back, I look at it.

 _Jeremy will have the scanners ready for you once you both get here._

 **In the scanner room**

The freight elevator brings us to the scanner room. The doors open.

 _"What on Earth are the others doing?"_ Jeremy asks.

I reply, "They're doing what they can. Xana's possessed Rosa."

"We'll have to make do without them," Yumi says. Aelita nods.

 _"Hurry up. I'll start the virtualization process."_ We step into the scanners, and the scanners doors close.

I close my eyes in preparation as the insides of the scanner start to spin.

 _"Transfer: Yumi, Transfer: Aelita, Transfer: Lila."_

The scanner continues to spin as it analyzes me and starts humming.

 _"Scanner: Lila, Scanner: Aelita, Scanner: Yumi. Virtualization!"_

 **Mountain Sector**

Opening my eyes, I land safely in the Mountain Sector alongside Aelita and Yumi. Looking ahead, we see the tower in sight, but with a large swarm of Kankrelats in a rectangular formation blocking the path to it. They stand in three rows of six, making for eighteen in total.

 _"The tower should be straight ahead of you."_

"We can see it Jeremy, but there's also an army of Kankrelats blocking our way," I say. Looking at the pathway, we see a big boulder just a few yards away from the Kankrelats.

"I have a funny feeling we should take cover. Come on," Yumi urges.

Nodding, Aelita, Yumi, and I start running to the boulder. The Kankrelats start charging their lasers. They release them and fire at us. Getting behind the boulder, we look at them.

 _"Yumi, Lila, Aelita. Are you okay?"_

"Would be a lot better if you can materialize the Overwing and Lila's broomstick," Yumi replies. "Maybe the Override, for Aelita."

"I don't know how to pilot Cameron's vehicle," Aelita points out. "I'll take the _Overboard instead."_

 _"Okay, coming up."_

 _This might give us a fighting chance… but I'm really worried about what Mary said. I wish she told me when Xana will try and kill Jeremy... and how she even got that information..._ I think.

The vehicles start materializing.

 _"Come on, ladies, get a move on. Ulrich, Odd, and Cameron are really in a bad way,"_ Jeremy says.

"No kidding! All we need here are some nice sandwiches for a picnic," Yumi wryly retorts.

Aelita and I peek around the edge to look at the Kankrelats, unrelenting in their laser barrage. We turn back to Yumi.

"We'll never get through," Aelita says. "Lila, Yumi. Any ideas?"

Yumi nods, "Hold on a second. I have a little idea."

She starts walking to her Overwing and then stares at the boulder. I smile, realizing her plan.

 _Good idea,_ I think.

"Little or big, I don't care as long as it works," Aelita says.

Getting in the position she usually gets, Yumi places her hands on her head. She starts glowing and begins levitating the boulder. Pushing outward with both hands, she throws the boulder and it rolls across the ground to the Kankrelats.

One by one, they're knocked down or crushed. Some of them try to get out of the way only to bump into each other from how dense their formation was and their legs being unsuited for quick sideways movement. We quickly get on our vehicles and start flying pass the Kankrelats to the tower.

 **Afterwards**

Reaching the tower, we bring our vehicles to the ground and hop off of them. Aelita runs to enter the tower, phasing through the exterior. Looking up, Yumi and I watch the tower's red aura turn to blue.

 _"I'm launching a return to the past. Get ready!"_ Jeremy informs. A big white bubble appears, engulfing us all.

 **Earlier the same day**

 **Back at the vending machine**

Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, Cameron, Aelita and I are all waiting for Jeremy by the vending machine. Unlike the last time, he doesn't show up for his usual drink.

"What's he up to? Where is he?" Ulrich asks, holding his own beverage.

Aelita purses her lips worriedly before suggesting, "Why don't we go check his room?"

"Yeah. Good idea," I reply.

 _Please be okay Jeremy,_ I think.

 **Outside Jeremy and Cameron's room**

Aelita knocks on the door, "Jeremy? It's us." After a brief pause she tries again, "Jeremy? …We're coming in."

Opening the door, she gasps and runs inside, "Jeremy!"

Jeremy is passed out on the floor. Aelita holds him up by his head and shoulders.

"Oh no!" I exclaim, running over to him and helping Aelita pick him up by the shoulders. "We need to get him to the nurse's office!"

 **In the infirmary**

Jeremy is lain in one of the beds, only the rise and fall of his chest giving evidence of his continued living. Odd goes up to him and tries to shake Jeremy awake.

"Jeremy, wake up! Aelita's fallen in love with Herb," he says in a fake urgent tone. I glare at him for the bad joke.

Odd turns to Yolanda, the school nurse, "This is serious; that _always,_ works, no matter how deep he's sleeping."

"Right, I'm calling the hospital," she says. She takes the telephone in the room and starts dialing a number.

Cameron comes over and sits beside me, "You okay?"

"I… I think I have to go with him. To keep an eye out for him," I reply.

"Why?"

Looking at him, I whisper, "Mary… she told me Xana will try and kill him in an ambulance soon. I think this is when Xana is going to try."

He nods, "Better safe than sorry." Cameron fiddles with the watch on his wrist, avoiding my eyes, before looking at me directly, "Hey, listen… I'm sorry I've been distancing myself lately."

I smile slightly, "It's okay."

"Look! His eyelids are moving!" Aelita exclaims. We turn and see that Jeremy's eyelids are flickering, but he doesn't seem to be any close to waking up.

The nurse looks while holding the telephone between her shoulder and head, replying, "Rapid Eye Movement… He must be dreaming."

 **Outside the infirmary**

"I'm going to stay here you guys—make sure Xana doesn't try anything," I tell them.

Ulrich nods, "We'll go to Jeremy's room and see if we can find out what's going on."

Aelita, Cameron, Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi leave down the hall. Looking at the door, I open it and go back in.

"Miss Yolanda? Can I ask a favor?" I ask.

The nurse turns to me, "Yes, Lila?"

"Could… could I go with Jeremy to the hospital, please?"

She thinks about it for a moment before answering, "Usually it's family only, but… I'll see what I can do. No promises."

I nod, and sit back down in one of the chairs, looking at Jeremy.

 _I'm not going to let anything happen to you Jeremy,_ I think.

 **Later**

 **Outside**

I watch the paramedics put Jeremy in the ambulance. Looking to Yolanda, she nods. I sit down next to Jeremy. The paramedics close the doors on us.

Looking at the paramedics from the window, Mr. Delmas says something to them before they nod and follow him. I look at Jeremy, whose eyelids continue moving.

 _My father never mentioned to me a time where this happened… He must have really regretted this moment,_ I think. _Jeremy, I wonder if you'll learn your lesson after this?_

Suddenly, I hear a click from the front of the ambulance. The ambulance suddenly starts by itself, the engine revving before it takes off at high speeds, knocking me to the ground.

The sirens start blaring as the emergency vehicle drives itself. I narrow my eyes while getting back to my feet, thinking, _It can only be Xana's doing; he's taken over the ambulance!_

Looking around, I see an oxygen tank, likely standard issue for the paramedics. Picking it up, I smash it against the glass partition between the two parts of the ambulance. After a few slams, the glass cracks and shatters, falling to the floor of the ambulance. Carefully going over the shards, I move to the front seeing that we're on the street now. Looking at the gear shift, I grab it and try to move it to park, but it shocks me forcing me to let go.

"Xana, you little pest!" I growl.

Going to where Jeremy is, I go to the rear doors and grab their handles, trying to pull them open, but they don't budge. Happening to look out the window in the back, my eyes widen as I see Yumi pedaling a bike as fast as she can to pull alongside the ambulance. I carefully step over the glass and roll down one of the windows in the front as she catches up.

"Lila, Jeremy!" she calls over the roaring winds from the speed we're going at.

"Are you crazy?!" I exclaim, wondering how hard she must be pushing herself to keep up with a motor vehicle on a bike. "What are you doing here?"

"Trying to get you guys out of there! Can you stop this thing from the inside?!" she exclaims.

"No, I can't!" I frown and think about how I was able to open the window.

"Try grabbing the handle on the door!"

"Right!" The ambulance starts going faster, and I stop seeing Yumi.

 _Try to get back to us Yumi!_ I internally plea. Looking at Jeremy, I sigh with concern. _Xana must've left the front doors and windows open because he knew that I'd only leave if I could take Jeremy with me. He's in no condition for jumping out, and the stretcher would only fit through the back._

Hearing a click on the side door, I go over to it. My eyes widen in shock as I see Yumi holding onto the handle, but she loses her bike a moment afterward. She opens the door but is hanging off the side of it.

"I've got you, Yumi!" I exclaim. Going over to her, I place my feet firmly on the ground and reach my hand towards her. Yumi climbs on the side of the door and grabs my hand before pulling herself inside and quickly closing the door. She's sweating and breathing hard as she leans against the wall.

"Thank goodness, you made it," I say in relief. "But _how_?"

"I took a shortcut to intercept it and jumped on," Yumi replies between breaths as she rubs her no doubt aching thighs. She composes herself, though, and stands up straight with only a slight wince, "Now, we need to stop this thing!"

"I tried that, but the gear shift is electrified," I explain.

"Not good," Yumi frowns. Going over to the front, she sits down in the driver's seat. I go to the right side and sit on the passenger seat as she asks, "Where's this thing headed anyhow?"

I shake my head, "Knowing Xana… he has three of his seven obstacles stuck in this van. Something tells me it's nowhere good."

The ambulance sharply turns to another street. Hearing groaning from Jeremy, we go to him. He starts opening his eyes.

"Jeremy, Jeremy," Yumi calls, trying to rouse him further.

I smile, "Thank goodness you're okay!"

He gasps and looks at us, "Yumi, Lila, what's going on?'

"Just huge problems, the same old routine. Before we do anything else, we have to get out of here," Yumi says, opening the side door. Jeremy closes it and looks at us.

"Hey, don't you think we ought to stop the ambulance first?" he asks.

"I tried that already, Jeremy! Xana's not so keen on letting us-" I start explaining, but the ambulance makes another turn, tossing the three of us to the side. Getting up, Yumi and I look at the front. Our eyes widen.

"Make it fast, because we're heading straight to the river!" Yumi exclaims.

Jeremy hurriedly climbs to the front and gets underneath the steering wheel. Opening a compartment, he starts messing with a few wires. Yumi and I watch the ambulance get closer and closer to the river bank.

"Jeremy…" I urge. "If you have a plan, try to hurry…!"

"Almost… ugh! I got it!" Jeremy exclaims, ripping the wires out of the ambulance. The ambulance's engine and sirens abruptly cut off and we're jarred slightly as it slows down dramatically, the vehicle coming to a gradual stop before reaching the water.

"How did you learn to do that?" I ask Jeremy.

"In those shows that Odd gets us to watch every now and again, one of them showed the character hotwiring a car. I just applied the same principle in reverse," Jeremy says while adjusting his glasses.

"Really?" Yumi asks incredulously. "You learned it from a TV show?"

I shake my head, "Now that you mention it, I do remember that episode. Ugh. Odd will never let us hear the end of _that_."

Jeremy smiles at us, "Now, let's get out of here."

We smile back and I grab the handle of the door. Electricity starts coursing through my hand again, shocking me into letting go. Looking at my hand, it's red from the burns.

"Ugh… of course it can't be that easy," I say. Looking around us, we see the entire ambulance has been electrified.

Jeremy grimaces, "It seems Xana came up with a plan B. Think the others are at the tower yet?"

"They are, look!" Yumi exclaims. Looking through the window, the three of us see a big white bubble. Sighing in relief, it engulfs us, sending us back in time.

 **Earlier the same day**

 **At the vending machine**

Waiting for Jeremy again, the seven of us look to see he's not here.

 _I hope you're okay…_ I think.

"Don't tell me he's out cold again," Ulrich says, holding a different beverage than before. I can hardly blame him; after having the same drink twice in such a short period, I'd probably want something different too.

 **Outside Jeremy and Cameron's room**

Deciding that we should check on Jeremy to make sure there wasn't a repeat of the earlier incident, we go to his and Cameron's room. Aelita knocks on the door before opening it.

"Jeremy!" Aelita exclaims in surprise as we see him crush what looks like some sort of headset.

"I checked the calculations I've done in the past few weeks and most of them were wrong!" Jeremy curses.

Odd walks into the room, "So, you were destroying your health without improving your brain power? I wouldn't call that a very good deal."

The rest of us walk into the room and Yumi moves to Jeremy's side.

"Do you think Xana had something to do with it?" she asks.

"He certainly put me on the track," Jeremy answers. "But the information did come from Franz Hopper's diaries."

"In some ways, then, we have not one, but two enemies," Ulrich says.

"I'm not so sure, Ulrich," I say, defending Grandpa Schaeffer.

Jeremy shakes his head, "Hopper is certainly not an enemy. But his discoveries are out of our league. I think we'd better be careful."

"For now, the most important thing is that you get back to being your old self again," Aelita smiles.

"Definitely," Cameron nods.

"You were really getting grouchy Jeremy. Like Doctor Shrank, or even worse," Odd gestures to Ulrich.

Jeremy snorts, "What, Ulrich?"

"Hey, I am not . . ." Ulrich replies but trails off before acknowledging Odd's point with a grunt. All of us can't help but laugh at him.

"Yeah right, give me a break," the blond laughs.

 **Later**

 **In the park**

Cameron and I sit down on the park's bench. We're silent for a while as I wait for him to talk since he's the one who called me out here. I hope that we can make up.

He turns to me, "I wanted to say… I haven't been distancing myself from you because of what you told me. In fact, I'm glad you did. Even if you're like Aelita, you two are just as human as the rest of us. That being said…"

"Yeah?" I ask, prompting him to continue.

"The reason I've been distancing myself from you is that…" he stops, stands up and puts a hand in his pocket. When he turns around again, his eyes are closed, as if he's deep in thought.

"What is it Cameron?" I reach towards him, meaning to pull him back to the bench.

Before I can make contact, he takes something out of his pocket, and my eyes widen. It's small, silver... It's... It's a gun! Before I can react, he pulls the trigger, and my world shrinks down to the pain in the wound, darkness creeping into my vision before everything goes black.

 **TO BE CONTINUED IN:**

 _A bad turn_

 **This story will now be set as rated M due to graphic violence. However, it will continue in its typical T rating. Readers have been advised.**

 **Don't forget to review!**

 **LyokoWarrior1994**


	30. A Bad Turn

**This chapter was written by me and edited by AwesomeFanFictionAuthor.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko. All copyrighting goes to Moonscoop.**

 **I only own Lila. Mary is owned by AeroJester203. Cameron is owned by Undeadmonkey8.**

 **Author's note: Due to graphic violence such as blood, the story has now been bumped up to M rating. It will, however, continue in its typical T rating. Readers have been advised.**

 **Author's note about Cameron: Cameron is owned by Undeadmonkey8, however, the Cameron we're seeing now is my version. He is OOC, which means out of character. All story ideas have been approved by Undeadmonkey8, but the Cameron that is in Undeadmonkey8's stories is definitely not the same one in my story. Just wanted to clear that up.**

 **Enjoy!**

 _A Bad Turn_

 **Outside the park**

 **POV Lila's**

My coughing wakes me up... I'm coughing up blood. I look around, immediately noticing I'm light headed. Cameron's gone, though… he's gone.

I look around and notice that I'm somehow more than a few feet away from the bench now.

 _How… did this happen? Cameron shot me… but I was on the bench? He must have tried to drag my body away or something. I can't believe I actually liked him… and for that matter where on Earth, could he have gotten a gun? Think…. Oh, that's right. He mentioned he's an inventor. He probably invented it and the bullet too for that matter… ugh come on Lila, try to call someone for help,_ I urge myself.

I reach for my pocket and take out my phone. I dial 1, it's Aelita on speed dial. While I'm waiting for her to pick up, I look down at myself. The bullet seems to have gone through my stomach, and I'm starting to bleed out.

 _Oh god… am I dying? No, I can't be!_ The phone keeps ringing and ringing… and finally, someone answers.

" _Lila is everything okay?"_ Aelita asks.

"No," I say, trying to hold back another cough. I can't do it… more blood comes up.

" _Lila, what was that?"_

"Aelita… I think… I'm dying…?" I barely manage to finish the sentence, my vision blurs fades, the phone drops, and I black out.

 **POV Aelita's**

" _-I'm dying…?"_ Lila finishes, and I hear Lila's cell phone drop.

My eyes widen.

"WHAT?! Lila, where are you?!" I exclaim in the phone. There's no answer.

"LILA?!" I yell. Still nothing. I run out of our room.

 **The boy's dorm floor**

I run upstairs to the boy's dorm floor, and I run all the way to Jeremy's room, leaving the call open. I don't even bother to knock, I just burst through the door.

"Hey Aelita, what's wron-" he starts to ask, but I interrupt him.

"Trace Lila's number, and hurry! I think Lila is dying!" I thrust my cell phone towards him, and his eyes widen in shock.

He grabs the phone and brings up a phone trace app. He enters Lila's number. The program loads for a moment then homes in on Lila's location. It's the park.

"Kadic Park! Call 112, and hurry!" Jeremy exclaims. He runs out of his room, to get Ulrich and Odd, I assume. I end Lila's phone call and dial 112.

" _Paris police, what's the emergency?"_

"My friend she's hurt! I think she's dying!" I exclaim.

" _Remain calm miss. I see that you're at Kadic Academy. Where exactly is your friend?"_

"In Kadic's park! We're not sure what happened!"

" _Alright, miss. An ambulance is on the way. Can you get to her?"_

"I'll try!" I nod.

 **At the park**

We arrive at the park and quickly locate Lila. She isn't hard to find. She's out in the open, lying unconscious in a pool of her own blood. It seems we're the first to get to her. The cell phone had dropped in the blood, but by some miracle, the call was left open.

"Lila!" I yell.

"Hurry!" Jeremy exclaims. We run to her. Reaching her, Jeremy goes to her and checks her pulse.

"I uh – oh god. Her pulse is getting weaker and weaker," Jeremy says, horror and guilt etched on his face.

"How did this happen?" Odd asks.

"I'm not sure…" I trail off. "I think she mentioned she was meeting Cameron but-" I start to say but I'm cut off by the ambulance's siren.

"They're coming. Hang on Lila, just hang on," Jeremy says.

"I'm calling Yumi," Ulrich says, taking out his phone and dialing Yumi's number. It rings, Ulrich puts the phone on speaker. As soon as Yumi picks up the phone, Ulrich starts speaking quickly.

"Yumi, it's Ulrich… there's an emergency. Can your dad drive us to the hospital?"

" _Why, what's wrong?!"_ Yumi exclaims. The sirens get closer and closer. The ambulance is pulling up to us.

"It's Lila… we're not sure how, but she's lost a lot of blood. We…" Ulrich trails off, he can't say it. Odd takes the phone from Ulrich.

"We think she's dying, Yumi," Odd finishes.

 **Afterwards**

Mr. Ishiyama was kind enough to bring us all to the emergency room. The paramedics kept Lila breathing long enough to get to the hospital, to get to a doctor.

Now inside, the five of us can do nothing else but sit and wait. A doctor walks up to us with Lila's clothes and time machine necklace wrapped up in a plastic bag. Everything's still bloody. We've repeated the day three times, but this fourth time… no one could have predicted this outcome.

"Here's her things. She's in surgery now, but…" the doctor looks at us, handing the bag to Jeremy.

"Do any of you have an O negative blood type?" he asks. Jeremy perks up.

"I do, actually. Do you need me to donate my blood?"

"Yes, and quickly!" the doctor nods.

"Right. Yumi, take her things, okay?" Jeremy asks, giving the bag to Yumi. Jeremy and the doctor rush to another room.

"I still don't understand… she was fine a few hours ago. Why did this happen, and how?" Yumi asks.

"Aelita… you mentioned she was supposed to be meeting Cameron, right?" Ulrich asks.

"Yes, I believe they were supposed to be going for a walk, or something," I say, trying not to cry. "Where is Cameron anyhow?" Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich look at one another.

"We haven't seen him. You – you don't suppose Cameron _did this?"_ Odd asks. I shake my head.

"I'm not sure! It wouldn't make sense, unless…" I trail off, realizing the truth. "Unless…. Xana got to him somehow."

"But when? Where?" Ulrich asks.

"He's been fighting with us for a while, so a spectre couldn't have possessed him. The only other possibility is if…" Yumi replies, trailing off.

"Is if… Cameron's a double agent! That must be it. Xana must have had him infiltrate the group! He's been working with Xana this whole time!" I exclaim.

"Something always bothered me about that guy…. I wish I listened to my instincts. What was he after?" Ulrich asks.

Yumi looks through the plastic bag of Lila's things, she grabs the bloodstained time machine necklace.

"This. Xana must have been after this."

"Then... why didn't Cameron just take it?" Odd asks.

"He must not have enough time to do that," Ulrich surmises. I hear the beeping of the super scan coming from Jeremy's bag. I take his laptop out of the bag, opening it, the super scan has detected a tower. There's an activated tower in the mountain sector.

"No, not now! We can't just leave!" I exclaim.

"If we don't, we'd be putting Lila in danger. I'll stay here, with Yumi. We can protect Lila, while you, Odd, and Jeremy go to Lyoko," Ulrich says.

"I … I guess so…" I sigh. A different doctor walks up to us.

"Which one of you called in this incident?" he asks.

"Yes, doctor that's right…" I reply.

"Miss… were you aware that the wound your friend suffered was a gunshot wound?" he asks. My eyes widen, and I drop Jeremy's laptop to the ground. It hits the ground, but it's not damaged.

"Wha- what?" I stammer. Odd rubs my back to calm me down a little.

"No, we weren't, sir. How bad is it?" Odd asks, trying to be serious.

"It's bad, son. Whoever shot her caused her to lose a lot of blood. She'll need time to recover, a lot of time. She'll live… but the bullet reached her spinal cord," he answers.

"What does that mean?" I ask. The doctor looks at me seriously.

"It means… it means your friend may never walk again. I'm very sorry," He says, and then walks away. I collapse onto the chair, Odd is too shocked to catch me. Ulrich and Yumi remained shocked as well.

Jeremy finally comes back. He looks a bit drained, but he has some food and juice to bring him back to full health.

"Sorry… it took a while. What's wrong?" Jeremy asks.

"Jeremy… it's Lila… she-" I stammer but can't bring myself to tell him the news. Odd turns to Jeremy.

"She might not be able to walk again, Jeremy. Apparently, her wound was from a gunshot."

"A gunshot?" Jeremy asks. "But… who shot her?"

"It was Cameron that did it," Ulrich answers.

"What?! Why?!" Jeremy exclaims.

"We… we think Xana had Cameron infiltrate the group, while still having his own free will. There's a tower that needs deactivating on Lyoko. Xana's launched an attack… _again._ Even if we activate a return trip… it's probably not going to fix Lila," I explain. Yumi is still holding the bag of Lila's things, she pulls it closer to her.

Jeremy puts his food and drink down and looks at each of us in turn.

"Odd, Aelita, and I will go. Yumi and Ulrich will stay here. Try to keep us up to date on her condition. If Cameron did try and kill Lila… he might try to come back to finish his mission. I'm sure the both of you can handle Cameron on your own. I just hope he doesn't try and come back to take the time machine from us," he says.

"Alright. Yumi and I are okay staying here," Ulrich nods. "We'll defend Lila from anything Xana might throw at us."

"Let me take the necklace," I speak up. They turn to me.

"You sure, Aelita?" Jeremy asks.

"I've always been Xana's target, long before we found out Lila was a time traveler. I owe it to her," I reply. Yumi nods.

"She's right. Here Aelita, I think Lila would agree you should be the one to hold onto it," she says. Yumi gives me the bloodstained time machine necklace and I take it. I put it on and under my hoodie.

"I'm calling you a cab. You guys need to get to the factory," Ulrich says.

"Anybody have any money on them?" Jeremy asks.

"I think I have a few dollars on me, might get us close," Odd replies.

"Okay, let's go!" I exclaim.

"Best of luck. Oh, and Odd, if you see Cameron on Lyoko, give him a few extra Laser Arrows for me, huh?" Ulrich asks. Odd nods. Ulrich takes out his phone and starts dialing the number for a cab.

 **Afterwards**

The cab drops us off at the far end of the bridge, across from the factory. We thank the driver, then hastily make our way across the bridge and into the factory.

"Aelita, do you have any idea where the tower's located?" Jeremy asks.

"Yes. Before I dropped your laptop, I believe it said it was in the mountain sector somewhere. Before you virtualize us, you should launch the super scan again," I answer.

"Got it. Maybe we can-" Jeremy starts to say, but a laser comes out from nowhere. We throw ourselves to the ground.

"What was that?!" Odd exclaims, in a hushed tone. Crawling up to the edge, we see two Krabs guarding the entrance.

"Oh no… you've got to be kidding! Not what we needed today," Odd sighs.

"This is the first time Xana's ever sent Krabs here to Earth. What should we do?" I ask.

"What we always do. We fight them," Odd replies.

"Right. I think I have an idea, come here," Jeremy urges. We back away from the ledge and get to where Jeremy is. Jeremy draws a circle in the dust on the ground with his finger. He labels the circle with letters G, E, and K.

"Okay, this is the gallery which I'm going to call G. This is where we are, the elevator, which I'm going to call E, and we've got to get to point E without being spotted by the Krabs, K. You get it?" Jeremy asks, fixing the glasses to the bridge of his nose.

"No, but I got another plan," Odd replies.

"What is it?" Jeremy asks.

"BONZAI!" Odd yells, running past Jeremy and swinging down the ropes. Odd runs so fast, the wind created messes up Jeremy's hair and glasses. Odd lands on the floor, getting the Krabs's attention.

The Krabs fire their lasers at him, as he starts running away from the elevator. The Krabs give chase. Jeremy fixes his hair and glasses, and then we swing down the ropes and land on the factory floor.

"Get into the elevator, I'm coming!" Odd exclaims. Nodding, we run to the elevator and get inside.

"Hurry up!" Jeremy exclaims, pressing the red button. The freight elevator's door starts to close. It looks like Odd might not make it into the elevator in time, but he drops to the floor and rolls himself into the freight elevator with less than a second to spare before the door closes, and we descend to the lab.

 **In the lab**

"Hurry up, get to the scanner room. I'll launch the scan then start the virtualization process," Jeremy says, making his way to the computer. I clasp Lila's necklace tightly to my chest.

"Jeremy… do you think she's going to be okay? Lila, I mean?" I ask him, my eyes on the ground. Odd puts his hand on my shoulder, and I look up at him.

"She's strong. She's suffered a lot from that future of hers. I'm sure she can handle a gunshot wound," he says, trying to reassure me, but it just makes me wince. Jeremy walks up to me. Reaching me, he cups my hands, trying to comfort me.

"Odd's right. I know this is scary, Aelita, but if we take care of the tower, we can launch a return to the past. If we do that in time, there's a chance we'll be giving Lila more time for her surgery. When we repeat the day again… we'll have to tell our teachers and the police that Cameron should be considered armed and dangerous. He's not going to get away with this," Jeremy says.

"Right," I nod.

Smiling slightly, Jeremy nods and goes to the computer.

 _I just hope you're right, Jeremy…_ I think.

 **In the scanner room**

The elevator doors open, and we gasp. Two of the scanners looked like they had exploded. There's rubble everywhere, cables strewn and frayed everywhere… the room is in shambles.

" _Is there a problem, Odd?"_ Jeremy asks.

"Yeah, and it's a big one," Odd answers. "The Krabs busted the scanners," he adds.

I carefully step over the cables on the floor and take a look at the only scanner left standing. It's plugged in and doesn't look like it's taken any damage.

"Not all of them," I say. "This one is still working."

Turning to Odd, I look at him.

"Shouldn't you go first Odd?"

He shakes his head.

"No. It's better if you go Princess," he smiles a little.

"I haven't heard that nickname in a while Odd."

He nods.

"I know… but you should go first since you're the only one who can deactivate towers."

"True…" I trail off.

" _The activated tower's exact location is in the mountain sector, 35 degrees north,"_ Jeremy informs.

I step into the scanner, and Jeremy begins the process. The scanners doors close.

Closing my eyes, the scanner starts to spin. Jeremy doesn't say anything. He's still upset like all of us are.

The scanner continues to spin and starts humming. Waiting for the familiar gust of wind and bright light, it completes the process. The gust of wind and bright light envelope me, billowing my hair and Lila's time machine necklace.

 **Lyoko's Mountain Sector**

" _I'm materializing the Overboard,"_ Jeremy informs as soon as I land.

"Thanks, Jeremy," I say. Looking down at myself, I see the time machine necklace has turned into a medieval sort of shield necklace divided into four quadrants.

"What's this supposed to do?" I ask myself, pressing the shield. A force field in the shape of the shield generates around me.

"Wow…" I trail off.

 _Why is it that this necklace gave Lila magic abilities, but oh me it looks totally different and generates a force field? Future Jeremy truly outdid himself with this machine…_ I think. I press on the necklace again and the force field disappears.

"Jeremy is Odd on his way?" I ask, looking up at the sky. There's no response.

 _There's probably some trouble with Xana. Guess I'm on my own, here,_ I think.

"Right, let's go," I say to myself, hopping on the Overboard. I kick it up into the air to get a lay of the land. The Overboard wobbles under my feet, a little. I yelp and grab the sides of the Overboard.

" _The activated tower is fifteen degrees more to the west. Be very careful,"_ Jeremy informs.

"Got it, but what happened to Odd?" I ask, lowering the Overboard closer to the ground and course correcting to those coordinates.

" _Xana materialized a third Krab and destroyed the remaining scanner. All scanners are offline, Aelita, please be careful. It looks like there are a few monsters close by."_

"Right, I understand. I'll do my best to be careful, then," I say. The path ahead is pretty long and winding, and I don't see any monsters, so I decide to have a little fun.

I sing and create curved walls on the sides of the path. Odd showed me something like this. I use the Overboard as a skateboard and skate up onto the wall I've created. When I reach the crest of the wall, the Overboard flies out from under me, but I catch it, flip it around, and land on top of the wall.

 _I think this one was called grinding,_ I think. Soon, I run out of wall, and jump back onto the path. Looking back, I smile. Proud of my achievement.

 _Odd would be amazed by that,_ I think.

" _Aelita, behind you! A squadron of four Hornets, coming in!"_ I gasp, quickly pressing the necklace to generate the force field. The Hornets start firing their lasers. The lasers reflect off the force field.

" _Aelita, what is that around you? A force field?"_ Jeremy asks.

"Yes! It's from Lila's necklace!" I reply. I look back at the Hornets and materialize four small boulders on top of each of them. They're a bit bigger than the ones I usually create. Every one of them is a hit, and they fall into the Digital Sea.

" _Nice work, Aelita! How did you manage that?"_

"I'm – I'm not sure. It's as if this necklace multiples the powers of its wearer, and then supplies them with something they really need. And since I'm all alone right now, I need some sort of protection. So, it supplied me with a force field, and some more power in my attacks," I theorize. Pressing the necklace again, the force field vanishes, and I start heading for the tower again.

" _Incredible! Listen, I have some news… it's about Lila."_

"What is it, Jeremy?" I ask, turning a little west.

" _She's out of surgery, and in recovery. But we need to step on it, because… there's a Krab headed straight for the hospital. One of the Krab's Odd was fighting managed to escape. It probably wants to finish Cameron's job. Yumi and Ulrich are going to try and defend Lila from the Krab. Odd's dealing with the last one upstairs, now."_

My eyes widen, and I push the Overboard to go faster.

"I'm glad to hear she's doing okay. I'm not going to let her down, not if we have anything to say about it!" I exclaim.

 **Afterwards**

I stop behind a cliff, just outside the tower. There's a big open area by the tower, a cave off to the side, and no monsters in sight.

 _Well, Xana, while you're at it, why not just put up a big sign that says "AMBUSH." I guess I can give him what he wants,_ I think.

I sing softly, creating a clone of myself and sending her into the cave. The Scyphozoa takes the bait.

" _Aelita!"_ Jeremy exclaims. I watch the other me being lifted into the air by the Scyphozoa's tentacles. It's only an image, though, so the clone falls through the Scyphozoa's grasp. Smiling, I go over to the Scyphozoa and the Tarantula protecting the clone. I make it disappear.

"Bye fellas," I wink and make a run for the tower.

" _Aelita that was crazy! Never do that again!"_ Jeremy exclaims.

"Sorry Jeremy, but I had to make it believable," I defend, running up to the tower and then carefully walking in.

 **Inside the tower**

I float up to the second level of the tower. Reaching the second platform, I touch down on it and it light's up. The tower's interface pops up. I press my hand on the interface.

 _Aelita_

 _Code?_

I enter the code:

 _LYOKO._

"Tower deactivated," I inform. The data stream in the tower starts draining.

" _Return to the past, now!"_ Jeremy exclaims.

 _Lila…we're going to be there for you_. _We'll help you with your recovery,_ I think.

A big white bubble appears and sends us back in time.

 **Earlier that day**

 **In the Hospital**

All of us are in the waiting room. This time Mr. Delmas and Jim and a few detectives had each questioned each and everyone one of us. We all told them the same thing.

"Like we've been saying, detective… we have no idea why Cameron would want to hurt Lila," I say. Jim scratches the back of his head, concerned.

"I think these kids are telling the truth, sir. What will you do about Cameron?" Jim asks one of the detectives.

"Well, it seems that he's run away. Perhaps it was a hasty decision? Who can say? However, I'm satisfied with the answers I've received from these kids. I do believe they're innocent, and they all have established their alibis," the detective nods. All of us smile slightly.

"From now on, if you kids need to go somewhere, you must report to Jim first. Is that understood?" Mr. Delmas asks.

"Sir, um, the thing is…" I trail off.

"Yes, Miss Stones?"

"We don't believe Cameron will be back. Not for a while, anyways," I answer.

"What makes you say that?" another Detective asks.

"It's a feeling, sir, that's all. Cameron did leave all his belongings at school," I explain.

"Hmm…" Mr. Delmas trails off.

"It's true, sir, he did," Jeremy says.

"Very well, but I must tell our fellow students and staff about this. We'll have some extra security around campus. If Cameron approaches the campus again, you will be notified," Mr. Delmas decides.

"I think that's fair," Jeremy nods.

"Right… and children, if need be, I'll allow all of you to take a few days off to spend some time with Miss Smith," Mr. Delmas says.

"Thank you, sir," Yumi says, still holding onto Lila's belongings inside the plastic bag. Mr. Delmas nods as he and the detectives leave. Two police officers remain outside of Lila's door, for security purposes. One policeman and one policewoman.

"Kids I'm… I'm sorry…" Jim trails.

"It's not your fault, Jim," Odd speaks up. Jim cracks a smile and then runs to catch up with Mr. Delmas. A doctor approaches us, the one who took Jeremy to donate blood.

"Is everything okay, sir?" Ulrich asks.

"Please, call me Doctor Frederick. Everything's fine, I wanted to let you know that you can now see Lila," Dr. Frederick replies.

"That's great!" Odd exclaims.

"Yes, but please keep your voices low. She's awake… and…" Dr. Frederick trails off.

"What is it, doctor?" Jeremy asks.

"The surgery was a success. To be honest… we're all a bit surprised," Dr. Frederick answers.

"How come?" Ulrich asks.

"She… she lost a lot of blood. But, for reasons, we can't explain… she just wouldn't give up on living. She's one tough person. She's going to be in pain for quite a while. She'll be given pain meds during her recovery here and after she's discharged from the hospital. She'll also be getting a cane to help her recovery," Dr. Frederick explains. He looks at Jeremy.

"I've been meaning to ask you…. Are you and Miss Smith related?" he asks.

 _Uh oh…._ I think.

"Um, no… we're just two students from Kadic. Not related whatsoever. Why?" Jeremy asks.

"Well… there's this irregularity. You both have an O negative blood type," he explains.

"Why is that a problem?" Yumi asks.

"It's not so much as a problem… it's just improbable. This blood type is rare, especially in France, and with two unrelated students in the same school sharing such a rare blood type is, well… unheard of," Dr. Fredrick explains.

"Huh?" All of us ask. I play along.

"Right, well, anyways, you can go on in. If you need any privacy, you're more than welcome to close the curtains on the door. The officers here will be standing by if there's any trouble," Dr. Frederick says.

"Right. Thank you, doctor," I say. He nods and goes to another room. Taking off Lila's bloodstained time machine necklace, I go over to Yumi.

"Just in case Lila wants it back," I say. Nodding, Yumi opens the plastic bag and I put the bloodstained time machine necklace into it. Closing it, we look at her room. We walk up to Lila's door, and one of the officers opens the door to Lila's room.

 **POV Lila's**

I stare absentmindedly at the heart monitor. It keeps on going...my heart is still beating...I'm still alive.

 _I can't believe I'm still alive. I thought I was a goner for sure…_ _I just want this day to be over… repeating it a fourth time was bad enough. But I have a feeling this is the fifth time we're repeating today. What exactly is going to happen to Xana's power now?_ I think, concerned.

The sound of the door opening snaps me out of it, and I immediately look over to see who it is.

"Oh, thank god, you're all alright," I say.

"Us? We were worried about you!" Odd exclaims, closing the door behind him. Aelita lowers the curtains on the door, giving us privacy. My friends surround the bed.

"They said the surgery worked well… but you're going to be in pain for a while. You've somehow recovered some mobility. Once you're able to leave the hospital, you'll be given a cane to use. We'll help you too, of course," Jeremy says.

"Thanks… any sign of Cameron?" I ask. They shake their heads. I see that Yumi is holding a bag of my things.

"Hey, um, Aelita… would you mind going back to the dorm and getting me some clothes, my music player, and the train station laptop?" I ask.

"I'd be happy to. Are you going to try and enter some more combinations?" Aelita asks.

"Yes, it'll keep my brain busy. I think I have enough strength to do that, and I'm sure you and Jeremy can help me too if need be. We'll need my notebook to keep track of the combinations we enter in."

"Okay," Aelita smiles slightly.

"While she does that, Ulrich and I will go to the cafeteria. We'll have Rosa cook up something great for you," Odd says.

"She's probably not in the mood to eat, Odd. I mean she did lose a lot of blood," Yumi reminds.

"Actually Yumi," I say, lifting my finger slowly, "I'm really hungry." I put my hand back on the bed.

"Oh, okay. Was there something Jeremy and I can do for you?"

"I'd like Jeremy to stay here, please. I see that you have my, um, necklace."

"Yes, I do. But it's stained with your blood, Lila…" Yumi trails off.

"It's okay. It'll be a reminder," I say.

"What should I do with it right now?" Yumi asks.

"Here, you can give it to me. Xana wouldn't dare try and attack us again today. Ugh, today has been such a long day," I sigh.

Yumi nods, and puts the bag on a chair, opens it, and takes out the time machine. She goes over to me, lifting my hair, and puts the necklace on me. I put it under my hospital gown, not bothering to look at the big bandage on my stomach covering my fresh scar.

"Thanks, Yumi," I smile.

"You're welcome, Lila," Yumi smiles slightly.

"Well we're off. Give us a shout if you need anything else. Jeremy, should I leave your laptop there?" Aelita asks, pointing to his bag.

"Yeah, that's fine, Aelita," Jeremy replies. Nodding, Aelita opens the door. She, Yumi, Ulrich and Odd all exit.

"Thanks for staying with me, Jeremy," I say.

"You're welcome, Lila. Say um… the doctor told me your blood type. It's O negative," Jeremy mentions.

"Okay…?"

Jeremy rubs his neck,

"Well um… I'm _also_ O negative. He said that O negative is rare in France and that two students who aren't related and go to the same school, is unheard of to share this blood type. He said it's an irregularity."

"What are you trying to ask me, Jeremy?"

Jeremy gives me a serious look,

"Lila… was I your father in your future?" He asks.

I smile.

 _You figured the truth out at last, Jeremy, and all on your own. There's no way I can avoid not telling him the truth now,_ I think. I look him right in the eyes, not bothering to deny him this moment.

"Yes, Jeremy… in my future… you were _my_ father..."

 **Don't forget to review!**

 **LyokoWarrior1994**


	31. Attack of the Zombies

**This chapter was written by me and edited by AwesomeFanFictionAuthor.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko, all copyrighting goes to Moonscoop.**

 **Author's Note: Thank you to those who have been waiting patiently for this chapter. Please do not skip to the end and please read this chapter in full. I only own Lila. Mary is owned by AeroJester203. Cameron is owned by Undeadmonkey8.**

 **Enjoy the one-year anniversary special chapter of Changing Destiny: Lila's Journey and Happy Halloween!**

 _Attack of the Zombies_

 **POV Lila's**

 _Dear Diary, we're nearing the end of March now. I've been back at school for just a few days. During the weeks I was in the hospital, Jeremy and I discussed his future. He finally figured out the truth… that I'm his daughter._

 _I… I told him my real name: Lila Belpois. He was shocked to say the least… but I explained my reasoning to him. I told him how I couldn't tell him he was my father because time works in multiple ways. It's dangerous knowing one's own future. Time is tricky I told him, and it really is. There's no way of knowing that my father's future will go exactly the same way for Jeremy in this timeline. Understanding this, he was less upset about me hiding the truth. Then together we told the others… and understandingly they were upset but quickly realized I had made the right move in not telling them the truth from the very beginning, with the way Jeremy and I told them._

 _I also… couldn't bring myself to tell Aelita she's my mother. There's just no way I can. Telling Aelita I have no clue who my mother was, is just the best plan of action for me right now._

 _On top of all of this… I'm nowhere close to a 100% strength… ever since Cameron shot me, I've been doing my best to walk around campus. Eating hasn't been a problem. In fact, it's strange… but, for some reason, I have Odd's diet now. I eat a lot, and thankfully I haven't gained any weight from the extra food. I still can't believe Cameron was a double agent… and I can't believe Xana would go so far as to shoot me. I mean… ugh. It's awful. I feel like I'm a burden on my friends, despite the fact they tell me they're here for me. What's worse is that while in the hospital I never entered any of the correct numbers, for the 8-digit code._

 _This laptop MB left in Grandpa Schaeffer's locker is becoming a real pain. Eventually, I'll crack the 8-digit code… but for now… I've been getting used to walking with my cane. There are good days where I can walk just a bit by myself, but Aelita is always with me. She'll hold my cane for me when I need it… and there are bad days when I need the cane to walk everywhere. Aelita is so great… and she's such a nice person who understands the pain I'm in. I'm grateful that Cameron somehow missed anything that would have been fatal, despite shooting me point blank._

 _The artificial intelligence that's within me has been keeping me alive and out of a wheelchair. I know it was because well… between you and me, Aelita doesn't know that after just a few days I got out of the hospital, I've stopped taking my painkillers. Sure they worked for a little while… but this cane is all I need for right now. Though my mobility is a problem without it... Anyways, I shouldn't keep Aelita waiting. We're going on a walk. Then dinner. See ya._

 _Lila._

I close my diary and put it on the desk.

"Ready?" Aelita asks.

"Yeah," I reply. Aelita goes and helps me up. Then she grabs my cane and hands it to me, taking me by the free arm in order to support me. Arm in arm, we start making our way towards the courtyard.

 **In the courtyard**

"I still feel bad about this, Aelita," I say, gesturing to my cane.

"Lila, this isn't your fault. It's Cameron's." She says. I wince at his name, remembering what he did. Aelita notices my distress.

"Sorry… I didn't mean to-" she starts to say, but I shake my head.

"It's fine."

Aelita nods, and we continue walking around the courtyard. Aelita and I decide to go through the park. It's difficult for me to do, since that's where I was shot, but I do it anyways. Eventually, we make our way to the woods.

"Say uh… how are things with you and Jeremy?"

"Me and Jeremy?" Aelita asks, blushing slightly. "They're, uh, they're fine."

"You know he knows I'm his daughter, right?" Aelita nods.

"I know. It's just very, uh…" she trails off, searching for the right word.

"Strange?" I ask.

"Yeah, that's it."

"Mhm, it is," I nod. "To be honest, if I hadn't been… well, you know. If that didn't happen… Jeremy would have never found out that we share the same rare blood type. He might have never figured it out."

"That reminds me. We should have Jeremy make some official documents for us. I mean, we're supposed to be adoptive sisters. I still don't have a prior medical history."

"That's a good idea Aelita. I'll bring it up to him." I start to breathe heavy a little, whether it's because of the physical strain or the mental one, I'm not sure.

"Do you want to take a break?" Aelita asks.

"Yeah," I nod. Aelita helps me sit down against a tree.

"This last month has been a bit peaceful. Xana must have used a lot of power to launch five attacks in one day. We haven't heard from him since," Aelita says.

"Or Cameron… he's totally gone AWOL."

"What do you think happened to him?"

"Honestly… I could care less about him. In fact, if I ever see him on Lyoko, I'll freeze his ass off."

"Lila, I never heard you swear before." Aelita looks at me, but I just shrug.

"Eh. It's whatever," I say, looking at the grass. Aelita is quiet for a moment before speaking up once again.

"Sissi has been rather nice to you lately, too."

"Yeah… she actually lets me take my early showers in peace. It's a bit strange, all of this," I sigh.

"Have you been taking your painkillers?"

"No… to be honest, I haven't needed them."

"Huh? You don't need them?" Aelita asks.

"It's weird, Aelita… whatever is within me, whatever my father created and put in me… it's healing me. I took the meds at the beginning of my recovery… but a few days after that, I just didn't need them anymore. It's like this thing wants me alive, Aelita. It's like I'm some sort of thing… not even human…" I trail off.

"Remember Lila, I'm not human either. You aren't alone," Aelita reminds me.

"I know… I'm just starting to feel… I don't know…" I trail off. She looks at me.

"Whatever your father did… you're a good daughter. You should know that" Aelita smiles. I look at her.

"Thanks, Aelita…"

 _I just wish I could tell you that you're my mom. But I'm already pushing my luck,_ I think.

"We should head back. It's going to be dinner time soon," I say.

"Okay," Aelita says, helping me up. My arms shake a bit, but Aelita holds onto me. She hands me my cane, and we start walking back to campus.

 **In the cafeteria**

Entering the cafeteria with Aelita, she and I make our way to the line which is thankfully empty.

"How are you feeling today, Lila?" Rosa asks, handing us two trays each.

"Slightly better," I reply. Rosa nods, smiling.

"Keep your strength up."

"I will, thank you, Rosa."

We take the trays over to Ulrich, Odd, and Jeremy who are sitting on one side of the usual table. Sissi, Herb, and Nicholas sitting at the table to the side of us.

"Hey Lila, how's it going?" Sissi asks.

"Uh, fine, thanks," I reply. Sissi smiles and turns back to her friends. Aelita and I sit down, setting down the trays. I see a lot of vegetables on one tray, toast, mash potatoes and some chocolate pudding on the other.

"Hey Lila, I was thinking, after we have dinner we should work on entering more combinations again," Jeremy says.

"Sure." Picking up a fork, I dig into the mash potatoes.

"It's still strange that you eat just as much as I do," Odd says. I finish chewing and swallow a bit of the mash potatoes.

"Yes, Odd. But I still have better table manners than you."

"Ha ha ha, very funny," Odd rolls his eyes. The others laugh. I continue to eat, but Odd stops and eyes my pudding hungrily.

"Say, can I have your chocolate pudding?"

"Isn't that your fourth one, Odd?" Aelita asks.

"No," I answer. "No, you cannot."

"But you already have the-" Odd starts to say, but Jeremy interrupts him.

"Odd, here," Jeremy pushes his chocolate pudding over to Odd. Shrugging, Odd stops talking and starts eating the chocolate pudding.

"Odd is like a cow, he has more than one stomach," Ulrich jokes. I glare at him.

"I seriously hope you aren't suggesting I'm _also_ like a cow, Ulrich," I say. He rubs his neck sheepishly.

"No, I didn't mean it like that."

"Uh huh," I roll my eyes. He really needs to work on his manners, even if it was a joke.

Suddenly there's screaming coming from outside, we turn to see Milly run into the cafeteria. For some reason, Milly is in her bathrobe, and she looks upset.

"Help me!" she exclaims. "Tamiya came after me! She looked so strange - and her eyes were completely white and- they were horrible! She looked like Doctor Shrank!"

"Who's Doctor Shrank?" Jeremy asks.

"The psycho TV brain surgeon in Hospital of Horrors," Odd explains.

"Smells like Xana, doesn't it?" Aelita asks. Nodding, Jeremy takes out his laptop. Once it loads, he starts typing, and I hear the super scan program running.

"I'm launching a super scan," Jeremy informs. I look over to Milly and notice the fear in her eyes.

"Calm down, it'll be alright. You must have had a bad dream," Rosa says, putting a comforting hand on Milly's shoulder.

"No, I didn't! It was real!" Milly exclaims.

"Activated tower," Jeremy confirms.

"Let's head for the factory," Odd says.

"I'll let Yumi know. Lila and I will stay here to hold down the fort," Ulrich says, taking out his mobile phone. He flips it open and gets Yumi on speed dial, it's a new one since his old one broke accidentally just a few weeks ago.

"Yumi, it's me. Listen, Xana's launched an attack," Ulrich whispers. "I'm staying here with Lila at the school. Meet the others at the factory." He ends the call and puts his phone in his pocket. Milly starts crying, and Rosa bends down next to her.

"I think this is serious. Sissi, go get your father, please," Rosa requests.

"Odd, Aelita, and Jeremy will go with you," Ulrich says to Sissi. Sissi smiles, and they all slip out of the cafeteria.

"Thanks for staying with me, Ulrich. I'm sorry I'm such a burden," I frown.

"You aren't, Lila. You getting shot was _not_ your fault," he says, trying to remind me. I try to get up, pushing my hands down on the table. My hands shake, but don't do much of anything else. I want to talk to Milly, but I'm too weak to get myself up.

"Mind helping me over to Milly?" I ask. He nods. Ulrich goes to me and helps me up. He grabs my cane and helps me over to Milly's side.

"Milly… everything will be okay. We're going to get Tamiya the help she needs," I say.

"You – you think you can?" she stammers a little. I nod. Hearing the door open, we look to see Jeremy and Aelita running back inside without Odd or Sissi.

"Where are Odd and Sissi?" Ulrich asks.

"They're back outside," Aelita answers.

"What's going on?" Rosa asks.

"Well, I'm not sure how to put it tactfully… but we're surrounded by zombies, ma'am," Jeremy explains.

"Zo-zombies?" Rosa asks, her eyes wide. One of the other kids, Christophe M'Bala, I think his name is, quickly grabs a chair as Rosa faints so she has somewhere to fall. He has dark skin and brown eyes, and he's just a bit taller than me. He removes his headphones and places them around his neck so that he can hear us better. He wears an orange bandana-like-object in his hair, has a green hoodie and a yellow long-sleeved sweatshirt. He's wearing gray pants.

"Nice save," I compliment. Christophe nods. I turn to the door window and see a few students and Jim… but they have pale, sickly skin, and their eyes are all white. They look like walking corpses, like zombies. Milly was right.

"There, you see! I told you I wasn't dreaming!" Milly exclaims. The zombified Kadic members growl at us and try to claw their way into the cafeteria. Milly holds onto another older student, a girl, but I'm unsure of her name. Ulrich and I walk over to Jeremy and Aelita.

"What do we do now?" I ask.

As if on cue, the zombies suddenly recede.

"I bet they'll be back with reinforcements," Herb surmises.

"The problem with the living dead is that you can't kill them because they're already dead," Nicholas says. Looking at Rosa, I see she is just waking up but then faints again. I sit down at the table next to Jeremy, who's back on his laptop.

"No, I'm not joking!" William exclaims, yelling into his mobile. "Hello?" he asks. The call seems to have ended, and William starts pacing and aggressively dialing a number. "Zombies. That's right. Like in _Out of the Tomb?"_

"I hope Odd and Sissi got away alright," Aelita says.

"I'm sure they did. Odd is pretty quick on his feet," Ulrich reminds us. "You guys need to join him. The way is clear for now, but we have no idea how long that will last." He says, putting his hand on the door handle.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" William asks, ending his phone call.

"Uh, outside," Jeremy answers.

"No way, it's too dangerous," William says.

"That's our problem, William. Mind your business," Ulrich says, starting to open the door. William grabs Ulrich's shoulder and pulls him back.

"Sorry, but I'm the oldest one here and I'm responsible for the group. And I'm telling you we're waiting here for help. I don't want the zombies to get you. And what's more, if they attack the cafeteria again, we'll need as many of us here as possible," William says.

"Listen, William –" Ulrich starts to say, but I interrupt him.

"William, you're wrong. _I'm_ the oldest one here. I may not look it, but I'm 24 years old," I tell him.

"What? What are you talking about?" William asks.

"Lila, maybe this isn't the time to-" Aelita replies, but I shake my head.

"I have this, Aelita. You and Jeremy go to Lyoko. Take care of the tower and I'm sure Odd and Yumi will meet you there," I say.

Nodding, Aelita and Jeremy take the door. William goes to stop them, but I put my cane up in front of him.

"William, I swear to God you try and stop them, I'll shove this cane so far up your-" I start to say but he backs off.

"Okay, okay, but it's their funerals," he scoffs and walks away. Putting the cane down, I look to Ulrich.

"What can we do here?" I ask him. He thinks for a moment, then addresses the crowd.

"Everyone, we need to start putting up some defenses," Ulrich says. "Take a table and start putting them up against the walls. Do it quietly and leave the front door alone, just in case Odd and Sissi need to come back in. Understand?" Everyone nods. They start getting the tables, turn them over, and carry them to the side of the walls of the cafeteria. Using my cane, I walk over to Milly. She looks at me.

"What do you mean, you're 24? I thought you were 14," she says, confused.

"This might be a bit confusing Milly but… do you know what a time traveler is?" I ask.

"Yeah, of course. Someone who travels from the future to the past or vice versa."

"Maybe in TV shows they do. And well… I, uh, sort of am one," I whisper. Her eyes widen.

"No way… how can I know you're telling the truth?"

Grabbing my necklace, I show it to her. She sees that's it stained with my blood.

"Why is your necklace covered in-" she starts to ask, but I interrupt her.

"It's because of Cameron. What he did to me… when he shot me he stained the necklace. And the necklace is, in fact, a time machine."

"What's that? On the bottom?" she asks noticing the red button. I give her a closer look.

"It's a button. I press the button and the time machine comes out, though I can't do it here. When it does come out, it gives off a big glow."

"And you can't do that because of the Zombies. It would attract them," Milly says.

"That's right," I nod. I put the time machine necklace back under my shirt. The other students finish putting the defenses up, and Ulrich walks back over to me.

"I still haven't seen Odd," he says.

"I think that just means he and Sissi made it to the factory. They're much safer there than here," I say.

"That's true. Plus he is quick on his feet," Ulrich nods. Hearing the door open, we look to see that it's Kiwi. I look at him and notice something seems off.

"Kiwi, what are you doing here?" Ulrich asks. He starts walking to Kiwi.

"That's the same dog we saw in the hallway just before Tamiya got Zombified," Milly mentions.

"Ulrich!" I exclaim, but it's too late! Ulrich is already reaching down to pet Kiwi, and Kiwi takes the opportunity to bite.

William starts backing everyone away from Ulrich and Kiwi.

"What was that for? I was only trying to-" Ulrich starts to say, but then I notice Kiwi's eyes. They flicker with the sign of Xana.

"Xana," Ulrich gasps. Kiwi walks out the front entrance, his job done. Ulrich holds his head in his hands.

"We need to restrain him, and quickly!" I exclaim.

"Right, I'm on it!" William exclaims. William jumps on Ulrich and forces him to the ground. Ulrich's skin turns gray, and his eyes turn white, he starts growling.

"Someone get me something to restrain him!" William exclaims. Christophe goes into the kitchen and starts searching for rope. He finds some and hurries back over to William.

Together, they pull Zombified Ulrich into a chair. William uses both of his hands to hold Ulrich down on the chair, so Christophe can tie up his arms and legs and tape his mouth shut so he can't bite anyone else.

"I've been wanting to beat him in a fight for a while now," William says.

"Now's not the time for that, William. Listen, I'll watch Ulrich for a bit while you and everyone else put defenses up on the front door," I say.

"Fine," William says. He, Herb, Nicholas, and a few others go to barricade the front door. I look at Zombified Ulrich.

 _Ulrich… this is all my fault. I feel so completely useless!_ I think. The students are just about done barricading the doors, but the zombies are approaching. There are more this time.

"Milly, with me, come on," I say. Looking at me, Milly nods and runs over to me. Taking her hand, she and I go to Rosa. She starts to wake up, only to see the Zombies trying to breach the cafeteria.

"Rosa don't faint again. I need you to shake a leg and get up. We need all the help we can get," I say.

"Oh…" she groans, "Uh, right. What can I do?"

"All of us need to take a chair and use them as weapons to defend ourselves!" I exclaim. Some of the students start running to gather the chairs, and we all stick together in a clump. Rosa stands in front, holding a chair, defending Milly and me. Christophe is on the right side of us, holding a chair. Everyone's scared, especially Milly who is holding my hand.

"How long do you think your friends are going to take?" William asks me.

"Shouldn't be much longer, William. If I'm right, we'll be saved any minute now," I reply. He rolls his eyes, still not believing me.

Zombified Jim manages to break through the window of the door. The rest of them reach through the window hole and grope at the air, trying with everything they have to get to us. Hearing Zombified Ulrich's growling getting louder, I turn to him.

Ulrich shakes in his chair and manages to get his legs free. I walk over to him and put my cane up in a horizontal position, to guard myself and the others.

"Lila don't!" Milly exclaims, worried for me.

"I'll do what I can just keep your focus on the front!" I exclaim. Zombified Ulrich's arms get loose, and he removes the tape from his mouth. Running at me, he growls and uses both of his arms to grab the cane. We start fighting for the cane, almost as if it's a tug of war. I hear a crash from behind me.

 _Oh no, they must have gotten through!_ I think. Zombified Ulrich wins the tug of war, takes the cane, and throws it to the side.

I start backing away from Ulrich, but the other Zombies start coming into the cafeteria one by one. All of us join up again, as the Zombies growl at us. My legs give in, and I put my hand on the floor.

"Lila – what's wrong?" Milly asks.

"I – I – I need my cane to walk! Without it I'm -" I stammer, trying not to cry.

 _I'm completely useless!_ I think. The Zombies move in closer and all of us scream. Looking outside, I see a big white bubble heading for us.

 _JUST IN TIME!_ I think. The big white bubble engulfs all of us and sends us back in time.

 **Earlier that night**

 **During the walk**

 **In the woods**

This time around Aelita is just supporting me again and I'm walking without my cane. It's strange but after the return trip to the past, I felt a little better… a little stronger than the first time. Perhaps it's not me who got stronger but rather the artificial intelligence that lives within me. Perhaps it's helping me heal even more now. Like somehow... the return trip to the past program made it stronger.

"I'm glad our trip to Lyoko went well. Odd and Yumi fought against Krabs. Sissi even took on a Zombie or two," Aelita informs.

"She did? Really?" I ask. Aelita and I continue walking in the woods.

"She did, yeah. It gave us just enough time for Jeremy to launch a return trip."

"Well, I guess we owe her one, huh?" I ask. Aelita nods. We hear the sound of a twig cracking behind me. I spin around but see nothing.

"What was that?" Aelita asks. I get an eerie feeling...

"Say Aelita… why don't you head back to the cafeteria? I'm going to just go to my room."

"All by yourself?" She asks me, confused. "Do you think you can make it there all on your own?"

"I'm sure I can," I lie. "I'll be fine, Aelita. Don't worry." Looking at me, Aelita nods and starts heading back to the cafeteria.

After she's out of sight, I turn back to the direction of the crack I heard.

"I know you're there. Come on out," I say. Cameron steps out from behind a tree. He can't seem to meet my eyes.

"How'd you know?" he asks.

"I just had a feeling I was being stalked. My senses have heightened recently, ever since you tried to kill me."

"It… it was never _my_ intention to do so. I need you to know that."

"Then what was your intention, Cameron? Huh?" I ask.

"I liked you. And honestly, at first, I wasn't under Xana's control. To be honest… I always wanted to ask you out to your favorite coffee place," he explains. I look at him in disbelief crossing my arms.

"Really Cameron? Now you decide to ask me? One I'm into tea, not coffee. Two, do you really expect me to believe you're under Xana's control?" I ask. He removes the clock of the watch he's wearing and shows me what's controlling him. My eyes widen and I uncross my arms.

"That's… that's the chip! But how-how can it control you through the watch?"

"I'm not sure, entirely. I can't even take this watch off me anymore," he says and places the clock part of it back on.

"Why didn't you just come to us? Instead of doing something so drastic?"

"I don't have a choice."

"There's _always a choice,_ Cameron. You still _look_ like you have your own free will."

"Eh, not really. I try but my master's will is stronger." He shrugs.

"Then why are you here?"

He looks at me and remains silent.

"That should be pretty obvious," he mutters to himself.

"You don't have to do this. You can't anyways! If you kill me, you end up killing your own master! Mary made sure she had the three-way link set up so that Xana could never go after me!" I exclaim.

"Yeah, uh, that's the thing… Mary's unlinked you. Xana tortured her into it. That won't save you," he explains.

"Then… that means…" I trail off.

He nods, confirming my suspicions… he's really going to kill me. He mutters to himself again. Suddenly his head faces forward. His eyes start to flicker with the Xana sign, and he speaks up.

" **I speak to you now, Lila. Not as Cameron, but as Xana,"** Xanafied Cameron says.

"What do _you_ want?'

" **To tell you the truth. The truth about what you are. At least… this way you'll know before you die."**

"What am I, then?" I ask.

" **After torturing Mary… she finally confirmed my suspicions. Lila Belpois, you ARE me."**

My eyes widen, and I start backing up. I fall to the ground in shock, landing on my knees. It hurts just to stay on them.

"No – no! You're lying!" I exclaim, starting to cry. Xanafied Cameron walks up to me, he takes the same gun Cameron used on me in the first attempt out of his pocket. I only had a short instance to look at the gun the first time, but now… now I recognize it. It's small and silver.

" **Lila… deep down, I think you've always been afraid of finding out what's within you. What was keeping you alive when you should be dead,"** Xanafied Cameron says.

"But – how could I – I just can't be!" I exclaim looking at him. "Xana was there in the future! He was… he destroyed everything I knew! My father... for all I know he could be dead! Uncle Odd, Uncle Ulrich, and Aunt Yumi from our life! He was there, blowing up buildings! I CAN'T be him!"

" **It. I am an it, Lila Belpois. You and your friends always refer to me as he. Why? Who knows?"** He - it pauses, **"I do not know the specifics of how your father created you, or how you became me. Nevertheless… there's no point in resisting… it's useless. Just… like… YOU."**

I cry. I keep crying.

"Please… I don't… I don't want to die."

" **You chose to try and change destiny, Lila Belpois. And you have failed. You are too much of a threat for what I am planning. I have seen your future through Mary's memories… and it is glorious. I must make it a reality in this timeline..."**

"Cameron, please – try – try and fight him!" I exclaim.

Cameron's eyes begin flickering in and out, the sign of Xana disappears from his eyes. He looks at me, slightly confused. His hand starts shaking a little, but then he aims the gun at my head.

"I'm sorry Lila."

"Camer-" I start to say but he pulls the trigger, and everything goes blank.

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**

 **And RIP Lila.**

 **Changing Destiny Lila's Journey will now begin a short saga called "The Dark Saga." Please note that the story will remain in its typical T rating but will stay as M.**

 **It will consist of five chapters in Aelita's POV only. And after that… well you'll have to wait and see what happens afterwards. Also, what did you think of that reveal? Can Lila be Xana? Or was Xana lying to her in the end? What changes await now that we have lost Lila? Stay tuned!**

 **Don't forget to review!**

 **LyokoWarrior1994**


	32. Coming to Terms

**This chapter was written by me and edited by AwesomeFanFictionAuthor.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko, all copyrighting goes to Moonscoop.**

 **Author's Note: This is chapter 1 of 5, for the dark saga featuring in Aelita's POV.**

 **Warning:** **Reader discretion advised. A warning to my audience that some themes in the dark saga may not find as suitable. While the story remains in its original T rating, these themes are the reason why the rating of the fanfiction is remaining at M. No adult material will be shown throughout this dark saga.**

 **And now the moment you've been waiting for...**

 _Coming to Terms_

 **In the cafeteria**

 **POV Aelita's**

After a long day, and then another of the same long day, I was ready to pass out. It was no wonder Lila wanted to skip out on the walk and the food and just go right to bed. As difficult as things are for me right now, they must be exponentially more difficult for her. And it isn't just the physical issues, the mental strain she's under must be pretty serious as well.

Still, it's a shame Lila can't join us in the cafeteria. Odd's shoveling down pudding, one after another. It's a wonder he never gains a pound. Still, whether he gained weight or not, there's no way eating that much pudding is healthy.

"Odd, isn't that your eighth pudding already?" I say. Odd stops gorging on pudding for a second to respond…although his mouth is still full when he does.

"No, it's my fourth." Odd smiles. He knows what I mean, but I say it out loud anyways.

"Yeah, your fourth on the second time around, so it's eight."

"If you say so," I joke. Odd rolls his eyes and gives me something resembling a chuckle before going back to his pudding. Food is going to kill him before Xana ever comes close, I swear.

"Has Lila texted you, yet?" Jeremy asks. He's been quiet up until now.

"No, not yet. I'll call her." I take my phone out and dial her number.

" _This is Lila Smith. You know what to do."_ No answer. I leave a quick message telling her to call me back and hang up.

Despite myself, I let out a sigh. I thought she would call or text when she got back to the room, but maybe… she was so tired she just went right to sleep. That had to be it. Nothing to worry about. Ulrich sees my worry, I guess, because he tries to lighten the mood.

"At least we don't have any zombies to worry about anymore. That was creepy." Then it's like a bad memory hits, and he shudders. "I felt hollow."

"I know what you mean. I felt the same after Kiwi got me but… I still somehow had enough willpower to launch the return trip. I can't help but wonder if-" Jeremy starts to say, but then all of us hear a loud bang coming from the distance.

"What was that?" Odd asks.

"Did you hear that?" Sissi asks.

"Yeah, I'm not sure what that was," Herb replies.

"Maybe it was fireworks," Nicholas suggests.

"Fireworks? For what?" Sissi asks.

"I don't know," Nicholas replies.

"Let's go and check it out," I whisper, and we quietly make our way out of the cafeteria.

 **In the woods**

We head in the direction of the sound, deeper into the woods. I have a really… well, I don't want to say it's a bad feeling, I don't want to be thinking it at all, but my mind can't help but race to several worst-case scenarios. You could never know, Xana could be right around the corner at any moment.

A loud noise… Nicholas suggested it was fireworks, but I'd seen fireworks on video. They were much louder and went for much longer and there were lights and…

And what if it wasn't fireworks.

I run even faster, deciding to go back to where I left Lila. No, no, no! I won't, it can't… Lila…Lila don't you dare be-

Dead.

There she is…on the ground, a gaping bullet wound in her forehead… blood still pouring out of the wound, still fresh, pooling underneath her…and…I think I can see bits of brain matter. Oh, I think I'm gonna be sick…

Before I know what, I'm doing I run to her and lay my hands on her, the clean part of her. I can't help it, though… my eyes drift back to her wound, her face…her eyes… her eyes are still wide open… and there are tears in them.

She is cold and getting colder… and I feel cold too, cold and hollow. How could…why? I have to… It's almost too much, but I have to do it. I gently bring a hand to her face and wipe her tears away… and then close her eyes for her.

And then I just cry, hot, disgusting tears. I hear footsteps coming toward me.

"Hey, Aelita, where are you- oh." Odd says, coming out of a run to a dead stop. "Oh no." Odd comes over to me and kneels down next to me and puts his hand on my back comfortingly. I appreciate it, but it doesn't help.

"Lila…" Ulrich trails off, the others have caught up by this point.

"We need to report this to Delmas and the police," Jeremy says.

"I – I know…" I stammer a little. "What should we do about her necklace?"

"Her necklace is still there?" Jeremy asks. I nod. My eyes drift again up the length of her body, Lila's…body… I know better than to look at her head again, but I do look at her neck. The time machine is, in fact, there.

Cameron did this, I know he did. There was nobody else who could have done this. My tears turned bitter, but still… it made me pause to think. Why… why in the world did Cameron not take the necklace? Why else would and want Lila dead? What else was there to be gained?! Was… was she really _that_ much of a threat to Xana?

While I'm frozen, thinking, Odd carefully removes the necklace and holds it up, dangling in front of his face. Ulrich dials a number, probably the police, possibly Yumi. It didn't matter anymore…

"Can I have that…?" I ask. He nods and hands me the necklace. Putting it on me, I put it under my hoodie. I put my hoodie up.

"We'll take care of this, but you should stay with Yumi for the night, you… probably don't need to be in your room right now. We need to explain things to her as well." Jeremy says.

"Ok… we'll do that when we get to her house…" I trail off.

Suddenly, we hear sirens approaching. That would be the police. I have no desire to talk to them right now, so Odd and I start walking off towards Yumi's house. Ulrich and Jeremy will take care of the rest.

 **Afterwards**

 **Ishiyama residence**

Once we get to Yumi's house, Odd knocks on the door.

"Yumi it's your boy-" We hear Hiroki singing from inside, but once he opens the door and sees that Ulrich isn't there, he changes his tune. "Never mind! It's your friends!" he exclaims.

"You're such a dork!" Yumi exclaims, running down the stairs. When she sees the look on our faces, and my hoodie up, her entire demeanor changes. She can immediately tell something is up. She closes the door behind her and looks at us seriously.

"Odd, Aelita, what's wrong?" she asks. I can't bring myself to answer.

"Yumi… we um…. we have some bad news…" Odd trails off.

"What is it?" she asks softly. Yumi looks at me again and sees the time machine necklace, speckled with blood.

"Aelita… why do you have Lila's-" realization washes over her. She covers her mouth with her hands as tears fall from her eyes. Odd puts an arm around Yumi and pulls her into a hug. Odd is a good friend.

"I think it would be good for Aelita to stay the night. Can she do that?" Odd asks. Yumi breaks the hug.

"I'll see what I can do. Give me a minute," Yumi says, and slowly backs off, her face still stained with tears, before turning and going back inside. The two of us just stand in silence, not sure what to do with ourselves. I hear some talking inside, and some crying, but I can't make out what's being said exactly. I can guess, though. After a few moments, the door opens back up. Yumi's mom is on the other side this time, and she ushers us in.

 **Inside the Ishiyama residence**

"I'm sorry to hear about what happened…Of course, you can stay for the night, Aelita." Ms. Ishiyama says.

"In fact, we'd feel better if you didn't return to school until this Cameron is caught by the appropriate authorities," Mr. Ishiyama says, looking at his children. A slight smile appears on Hiroki's face and disappears just as quickly.

"I… I can't. She'll need help going back to her room… let alone living in it by herself. Please dad…" Yumi trails off. Mrs. Ishiyama looks to her husband and puts her hand on his shoulder.

"It's the least we can do dear…" she trails off.

"Very well… I'll talk to Mr. Delmas as soon as I can reach him to make the proper arrangements." Mr. Ishiyama nods. "Odd, do you want to stay, too?"

Odd seems not to hear him for a moment. He's been awfully quiet. His mind is probably somewhere else, and that isn't like him at all, but I don't think any of us are quite ourselves right now.

"No… I need to get back to school… They'll need me there…" Odd trails off.

"Right," Yumi nods.

"We'll take you back to campus, Odd. It's best you're not alone right now," Mrs. Ishiyama says.

"Thank you, ma'am," Odd nods.

"Will you be needing anything, Aelita?" Mrs. Ishiyama asks.

"Can I take a shower?" I ask.

"Of course. Yumi, will you show her upstairs?" Mrs. Ishiyama asks.

"Yeah, get back safe," Yumi says. We share a hug with Odd before he leaves. Honestly, right now, I don't want anyone to leave me, regardless of the reason. I just… what if Cameron is still out there, what if Odd is next, what if he never comes back?!

Yumi might be thinking something similar about her parents. I know Odd's right, though. Jeremy and Ulrich and Sissi and everyone would all need Odd. I hope that Odd gets help himself, though. He supports everyone, but at times like this, he needs help, too. They go out the door, and I take a deep breath.

"I could really use a shower," I say.

"I'll show you to it," Yumi says, and brings me upstairs to the bathroom.

 **In the bathroom**

She grabs a towel for me from under the sink and hangs it up by the shower. "You can use anything in there. There's shampoo and conditioner and some essential oils if you're feeling fancy… If you need anything, just give me a shout. I'll make sure Hiroki doesn't bother you."

"Thanks, Yumi," I say, and she closes the door on me.

I'm alone, now.

I turn on the shower, wait for it to heat up, undress, and step into the shower. The hot water feels nice on my body… All my tension disappears, and I fall to my knees, my tears disappearing in the shower's droplets.

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside Yumi's room**

After the shower, I feel a little better. I lie down in Yumi's room and stare up at the ceiling. I still can't believe she's gone… I still don't understand. How could Xana kill Lila without killing himself? It doesn't make sense… I know I'm only alive because fake Mary told us the link I'm on is separate from the three-way link between Mary, Xana, and Lila. What could have changed? Unless…

Unless Mary broke that link! She's the one that set it up… so she should know how. Why would she do that? From what Lila told me… Mary was like a mother to Lila. If she did break the link between them, Mary must have had a very good reason to do so. Or… a very bad one. Could… could Xana have tortured her somehow? I shudder at the thought.

Yumi comes in with my pajamas, the pink ones with the t-shirt having an A on it, as well as some of my own clothing. It seems her parents came back from Kadic. She leaves me alone in the room so that I can change into my pajamas.

 **Afterwards**

Yumi comes back in, once I'm done changing. Yumi reports what her parents told her. Lila's body was brought to the nearby hospital's morgue. The detectives on the scene couldn't find the weapon that Cameron used.

"Also, I just got off the phone with Ulrich. Tomorrow you and Odd are going to need to make statements to the police. He and Jeremy already gave theirs." She sits down next to me.

"What did _they_ say?" I ask, just so we can all have the same story.

"We were in the cafeteria when we heard what sounded like fireworks. We went to check on the sound and found our friend there. She was… she was gone by the time we got there." Yumi recites, as if by memory.

"Anything about the necklace?" I ask, clutching it to my chest.

"No, they didn't ask since it wasn't on her. But they did ask why her eyes were closed, and Ulrich told them you closed them for her. They were upset about that, something about contaminating the crime scene," Yumi says.

I shake my head. I had to close her eyes, she had to rest. Plus… those eyes… staring at me…

"Ulrich also told them they were sure Cameron went back to finish the job… and he did. They've got a notice for him on the news, he's a wanted criminal now…" Yumi says, sighing. We sit in silence for a moment, until my mind is able to crank out the next thought.

"Did they say when her funeral will be?" I ask.

"Sometime next week. We can decide what type of funeral she has after they collect everything need from Lila and from the crime scene. They need Cameron's prints… and…the bullet…" Yumi trails off. "And the woods are going to be off limits for the time being... if Xana attacks, we'll have to go through the passageway via the gymnasium. I just hope he leaves us alone..."

I look down at the floor. The last thing I want is another Xana attack so soon."And the school is chipping in. They're also giving all of us a few weeks off to grieve. There will be counseling sessions for everyone."

"Okay." That's all I can think to say.

"Will you go to the sessions, Aelita?"

"Not sure what good that would do… We can only talk about part of the problem. We can't tell the whole truth without talking about the Supercomputer. So going to those sessions would be useless…"

"Then maybe all of us should get together and have our own counseling sessions," Yumi suggests. We aren't trained professionals in this kind of thing… but at least we would all understand the full situation.

"That would help," I say, and a wave of exhaustion washes over me. "It's been a long day. I'm tired."

"Okay, let's get some sleep. The next few days are going to be rough…"

"Yeah, they will be," I say.

"You can take my bed for the night, Aelita," Yumi offers.

"Thank you, Yumi," I say. Yumi goes to her closet and opens it. She takes a sleeping bag, and rolls it out onto the floor. She gets inside of the sleeping bag and I take her bed.

"You're welcome Aelita. It'll probably be difficult but do try to get some sleep tonight," Yumi tells me.

"I'll try," I say. I flop down on the bed and stare up at the ceiling once more, holding the bloodstained time machine necklace close to me.

Will I ever come to terms with this… who knows? But the first step forward, the only step forward is to continue entering more combinations in the laptop. That has something… something important. Lila, I know you have a list of combinations you've already entered in MB's laptop. I'll try to crack the 8-digit code. And I will absolutely do whatever is necessary to defeat Xana, for you.

Lila… I'm going to miss you.

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**

 **Author's Note: The shower scene was the first time we saw a shower scene in this version of Code Lyoko. For those of you who remember, the show was not afraid to show shower scenes, and if you remember there were times where viewers have scene Sissi wearing nothing but her bra and underwear. While nothing graphic was shown, I've tried to refrain myself from using these scenes in the fanfiction in the past for the sake of my younger audience, if there is one. This chapter was edited entirely by AwesomeFanFictionAuthor, and their decision to put this shower scene in was one I stand by. It shows Aelita at possibly her saddest point, we've seen so far in this dark saga. This is the only shower scene we'll be seeing throughout the entirety of Changing Destiny: Lila's Journey! If you wish to contact AwesomeFanFictionAuthor, they offer a $5 editing service on most chapters. And a special announcement... me and AwesomeFanFictionAuthor are pleased to announce the "The Adventures of Lila Belpois," What this entails is a filler arc, solely of passed skipped chapters and any chapters I may skip in the future. It'll be its own separate fanfiction, with a T rating, and will be canon to Changing Destiny: Lila's Journey! These chapters will NOT be updated on a regular basis, but rather will be updated whenever I choose to since they are of course filler chapters. Stay tuned for the next chapter in the dark saga! An update will be here before you know it! Roughly within our scheduled two weeks!**

 **As always:** **Don't forget to review!**

 **LyokoWarrior1994**


	33. What is Death?

**This chapter was written by me and edited by AwesomeFanFictionAuthor.**

 **Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is owned by Moonscoop.**

 **Cameron is owned by Undeadmonkey8. Mary is owned by AeroJester203.**

 **Author's note one: Hi everyone! I've decided to update Changing Destiny: Lila's Journey a week in advance. However, the next chapter will not be up for two weeks. I also have news! The Adventures of Lila Belpois is offiicially live with its first filler chapter: Plagued. Due to The Adventures of Lila Belpois not being updated like how I usually update this fanfiction, I would ask that you favorite and follow The Adventures of Lila Belpois to get updates on chapters when they are released.**

 **Author's note two: Readers discretion is advised.**

 _What is Death?_

 **Inside the lab**

What is death? We've all been trying to wrap our minds around death. Lila's death. Lila died on March 27th and it's difficult for us to believe that just a week ago she was alive. When we aren't at school, grieving with our classmates, we're at the factory, grieving silently with each other. We don't talk most of the time. Sometimes we'll try to talk about her… but it's difficult to do so. Our tears have dried up.

Lila was someone who worked so hard and risked everything to come back to our time and change our destiny… failing like that, and the consequences of that failure… It was enough to depress anyone.

Is death unavoidable? What is beyond death? We've asked each other about what we each think what death is. As for me… I don't really have an answer. I can't. I'm not human, the human experience of death never really crossed my mind, not from a personal point of view, anyways. Do people just cease to exist on the other side of death, or is there some other place they go? Where is Lila now, or rather, where is her consciousness?

"Um… there's still one thing, the funeral home is waiting for an answer…" Jeremy trails off, breaking the silence.

"About?" Odd asks.

"They want to know if we should have a burial or a cremation," Jeremy replies. I slowly look over at him.

"I… I think we should cremate her Jeremy. We can spread her ashes on Lyoko. I think she'd like that."

"Then, what about the funeral for our classmates?" Odd asks.

"We can have a closed casket. Lila's body wouldn't be in there… but it'll give everyone at Kadic some sort of closure," Yumi suggests.

"Might be for the best," I nod, and get up, breaking my stasis. "I'll go back to the room to continue working on entering more combinations in MB's laptop. Jeremy and I worked on it a lot this week, and with our notes, we've entered 37,000. There's still 3,320 to more possible combinations to go, though."

"What? 37,000? How did you and Einstein do that?" Odd asks.

"No class, no sleep, no Xana, that's how," Jeremy explains. "Anyways, I'll give the funeral home a call and let them know. Are you guys going back to school?" he asks.

"I can stay here," Ulrich offers.

"I'll go back to our room with Aelita," Yumi says. Her parents were nice enough to let Yumi move in with me, so I didn't have to be alone in that room. She smiles at me.

"Thanks, Yumi," I nod.

"I'll stay here. I'm not really hungry," Odd says.

"Still? You haven't really eaten a lot in days, Odd," Ulrich mentions.

"I know. But I just can't eat when I'm upset. It'd help if Kiwi were on campus, but..." Odd trails off. Ulrich nods.

"Well, uh… we're off. I'll see you guys tomorrow," I say. They acknowledge me and wave as Yumi and I climb into the elevator. We make our way to our room in relative silence, talking about nothing in an attempt to distract ourselves.

 **Inside Aelita and Yumi's room**

The room has changed a bit… Lila's stuff is off to one side, in boxes. There are all sorts of things, useless knick-knacks, school supplies, a time travel book, her diary, and, of course, her copy of Jeremy's laptop. I can't bring myself to look at either of those things. I feel like it would be an invasion of privacy...no matter what might be in there.

The bunk bed has been taken down. The top bunk placed on the floor… Lila's bed… which is conveniently my bed. It's hard to explain… but I feel, I'm not sure what the word is I'm looking for, but I feel some sort of strange comfort that Jim has allowed me to keep Lila's bed. The desk moved. My old bed is now by the window, which Yumi uses. So it's really her bed now. Lila's old desk has been pushed to the side of my desk. Yumi uses it now. It really isn't _her_ room anymore…

I shake my head free of those thoughts and pick up MB's laptop. There's work to be done. I sit down at my desk, open the laptop, and take out our notes. I flip to the last one we crossed out and start typing in combinations.

 _58406875_

Nothing, I cross that off the list of possibilities.

 _37581276_

I stare at the screen and sigh, then cross out the number. I keep entering combinations, and it's all the same. It becomes repetitive and I sort of go on autopilot. The next time I check the time, it's three hours later. I'm down from 3,000 combinations to 2,000 combinations. If I can keep this pace up, I'll have it cracked by the end of the day. Still...this laptop is harder to crack than we initially thought. It looked simple, it was just an 8-digit code… but it was taking so long.

Maybe that was the whole point? Just because something looks easy, doesn't mean it always is. Appearances can be deceiving.

"Come on Aelita, one more number," I say to myself like a silent prayer, enter another number, and press enter.

Nothing.

"Why isn't anything happening?!" I pound on MB's laptop out of frustration, and it completely turns off...making a noise like it died.

"What?! No!" I exclaim, shaking the laptop.

"Aelita, Aelita stop!" Yumi exclaims, waking up. She gets up from the bed and rushes over to me, holding me back.

"The laptop just died on me! I was so close! There were 2,000 combinations left to enter! It… it must have died because we put in too many combinations. Maybe that was a security measure MB built in. It died…suddenly… just….Just like Lila did!"

As soon as the words leave my lips I break out into tears. This is the first time I've cried this week. I didn't think there were any tears left… but I guess that isn't the case…

Yumi pulls me into a hug, trying to comfort me. She's a good friend…

"She's gone Yumi. She's just gone…" I trail off.

Yes, she's gone. Tomorrow I get to be with the others just as usual, but three days later, we prepare to say our final goodbye.

 **April 8** **th**

 **Inside the funeral car**

We're all dressed in black. I even dyed my hair black with temporary dye. Some people bring the empty casket out from the building where we had the service, and into the hearse. The rest of us get in a limo behind the hearse.

I still have the time machine necklace, stained with Lila's blood. I wear it under the clothing, so nobody sees it. There's glass separating ourselves and the driver, so we have the privacy to talk.

"I still can't believe MB's laptop just died like that…" I trail off.

"It wasn't meant for us to find out who MB was, Aelita…" Jeremy trails off.

"I guess… it just feels like the whole thing was a big waste of time. I'm not sure what we should do about Lila's things either. They're still packed in the boxes."

"We could burn them…" Odd mutters. I look at him.

"Even if we do, what about her diary? What about the copy of Jeremy's laptop Lila hid from us? There could be some sensitive information in both of them on how to defeat Xana."

"Is that really a good idea? Wouldn't we be changing the timeline or something?" Ulrich asks.

"Xana's _already_ changed the timeline Ulrich!" I nearly yell at him, but then I feel bad and look down at my feet.

"I'm sorry… I shouldn't have shouted," I say.

"It's okay…" Ulrich trails.

"I think we're here you guys," Yumi says.

 **Afterwards**

It's a long ride, but we finally get to the cemetery. Words are said, tears are shed, and the empty casket is buried. She's given an engraved gravestone. Sissi cries the loudest. She and Lila finally made up... but now she's gone Nicholas and Herb console her.

Milly and Tamiya are there, too, beside themselves, comforting each other. This might be the first time either of them have gone to a funeral. Principle Delmas puts a bouquet of flowers down on the casket and walks over to us.

"Children… I want you all to know how very devastated everyone here at Kadic is. We truly cared for Lila."

"Thank you, sir," Jeremy says.

"I must ask you: Where is Mrs. Smith? Lila's mother?"

"We're not sure, sir. She may be out of the country and on one of her business trips. She travels often. We've been trying to get in touch with her, but haven't been able to," I lie.

"I see, I see. Miss Stones I understand this must be a difficult time for you. All of you. But I needed to speak with you on another matter. The police have accepted all of your statements… but, there are some discrepancies concerning you, Miss Stones."

"Me, sir?" I ask.

"We haven't found any adoption papers linking you and Miss Smith as relatives. On that matter… we haven't found a birth certificate verifying who you are, Miss Stones."

"Oh… well, Smith certainly is a common name sir. You may need to ask Lila's mother about the adoption papers. Some people like to keep paper files instead of electronic ones. Same for my birth certificate."

"Right, well… you'll need to forward this information to the police as soon as possible."

"I will sir. May I ask where Jim is?"

"Jim was very depressed when he heard about Lila. He couldn't bring himself to come here today. He sends his condolences," Mr. Delmas explains. I nod.

After a brief awkward silence, Delmas walks away to sit next to his daughter. The funeral people were kind enough to give us seats, instead of standing up and grieving for Lila.

"What do we do now?" Ulrich whispers as soon as Mr. Delmas is out of earshot.

"I'll create Aelita's fake birth certificates and adoption papers. It seems that Lila had created a fake birth date a while back. I noticed on the death certificate that her birth date was October 11th, 1992. She covered her tracks," Jeremy replies.

"After this is done, we'll go to the lab and start on those fake papers. I know she's not really in there… but we should still be here. Then we'll give Lila a sendoff she'll be proud of, if she's watching us," I say. Jeremy, Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi nod.

She is watching. I know she is.

One by one, everyone leaves, until it's just us and the limo driver. I look at her gravestone.

 _Lila Smith_

 _A best friend, a good student, and a kind soul._

 _Born October 11_ _th_ _, 1992. Died March 27_ _th_ _, 2007_

She would have been 15 this October…

"I… I'm going to miss her," I say, climbing into the back of the car with the others. We put the glass up for some privacy.

"We all will, Aelita," Jeremy says, holding my hand.

"I know, I just… I don't understand why any of this happened. I mean… why did Cameron do it…?" I trail off.

"Who knows why that guy did it? Honestly, Aelita, I think if we ever see him again we need to deal with him ourselves. The law isn't going to help any of us," Ulrich says.

"Ulrich…" Yumi trails off.

"He's right. Cameron purposely infiltrated our group. Xana has always tried to drive us apart… but he could never succeed. But now he's used someone else to do his dirty work. I'm not sure if Cameron was ever an honest person… or if Xana got to him," I say.

"I've been wondering about that… remember the time in the gym? With your first DJ mix?" Odd asks.

"I do," I reply.

"Cameron was possessed back then. Do you think Xana found a way to keep him possessed, even though we deactivated the tower?" Odd asks.

"But he didn't show any signs. And I did destroy those chips, twice if I might add," Jeremy replies.

"True, but we know Xana's getting more and more powerful, right?" Odd asks.

"Yes, he is… I just hope we can handle him. We're down two warriors now…" Jeremy replies.

"We'll figure it out," Odd says. I just hope our numbers don't continue to drop.

 **At the funeral home**

We pick up Lila's ashes from the funeral home, the limo drives us to Yumi's house, and from there we walk to the factory.

 **Inside the lab**

Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, and I watch Jeremy make up the information for the police. He sends it via a fake email from Mary. We see he successfully sent the info, so he ushers us to go to the freight elevator and we make our way to it.

 **Lyoko's Forest Sector**

After that, we virtualize into the forest sector. Jeremy thinks it would be symbolic since that's where Lila had her first mission.

" _Alright, I'll be there in a minute,"_ Jeremy announces over the intercom.

"Huh? You're going to Lyoko, Jeremy?" Odd asks.

" _I am. Remember Odd, on a cosmic sort of level, I am Lila's father. When she told me that… I was a bit upset. She lied to us, but now I understand why. She was under a lot of pressure, keeping those secrets to keep the timeline in check. So that's why I'm going,"_ Jeremy explains.

"Okay, Jeremy, we'll wait for you. Are you materializing our vehicles?" I ask.

" _I will, Aelita. One of you will have to use Lila's broomstick since we need the extra vehicle."_

"I can use it," I say.

" _Okay. Materializing your vehicles… now."_

Our vehicles materialize, including… including Lila's broomstick. Then we wait for Ulrich and Jeremy to materialize. First comes Ulrich, landing in a perfect three-point pose… then comes Jeremy, falling on his butt. Normally, we might have a good laugh about it, but nobody is in a laughing sort of mood right now.

"Thanks, Aelita," Jeremy says, getting up and looking down at himself. He's wearing a futuristic bodysuit with boots, a belt, and holes at the ends of the sleeves for his fingers to go through. He seems to have some sort of repulsor firing mechanisms in his palms. He gives the outfit a shrug.

"These repulsors seem promising," Jeremy nods. "Much better than my last outfit."

"Where should we spread her ashes?" Yumi asks.

"The digital sea. It's the safest place," Jeremy replies.

"Right, let's go," Yumi says.

"Okay," Ulrich nods. Jeremy gets onto Ulrich's Overbike with him and the rest of us, hop on our vehicles and head to the edge of the sector.

Yumi flies the Overwing with one hand and Lila's ashes in the other. We fly high above the forest to avoid any trouble. We all make it to the edge of the sector without incident.

"Looks like Xana is going to leave us alone for this," Odd surmises.

"Seems like it. He already succeeded… there would be no point in interfering," Jeremy agrees. We get back on the ground. I do not want to fly that broomstick again, it feels wrong.

"Does anybody want to say some final words?" Yumi asks. I speak up.

"Um… Lila, we all miss you. We're all _going_ to miss you. We know you took a risk, traveling from your future to our past. And we won't let your sacrifice be in vain. We all care about you, and we will continue to care about you for as long as we live."

"Anyone else?" Jeremy asks. Everyone is silent, so Jeremy turns to Yumi.

"Okay… Yumi you can open it now," Jeremy says. Yumi opens it, and we each take a handful of Lila's ashes. I don't feel right touching them, but she deserves a proper send off.

"On the count of three. One," Odd fires a Laser Arrow into the air. "Two." He fires another Laser Arrow. "And three." He fires a final Laser Arrow into the air. We release the ashes over the cliff and into the digital sea. There's no wind here, so it just sort of drops. A moment later, six beams of light erupt the sea to pierce the sky.

"Well, it's done…" I trail off. "Xana may have gotten what he wanted this round, but we will _not_ let him win again."

" **And it was so sweet. Such a heart-warming send-off,"** Cameron taunts.

No. No. No, no, no! Not now! Would Xana, no, would _Cameron_ REALLY desecrate a funeral like this?! This is not, in any way, shape, or form, ok!

But yes, Cameron is here. His normal Lyoko outfit has changed to a black and white color scheme, but otherwise, it's the same as it was when he was pretending to be our ally. Well, not entirely, he has an eye of Xana on his chest and a long-barreled pistol instead of a flute. The overall effect is... much more intimidating, admittedly.

"What are you doing here?!" Yumi exclaims.

" **Oh, you know, just taking in my master's victory. And all of you will fail. I will not allow my master's plans to be threatened by the likes of you anymore."**

"We'll see about that," Ulrich says and takes out his Katana. The others ready their weapons. I press the shield time machine necklace, and it surrounds me in a force field since all I can do is try and get a good few punches in.

I'm connected to Xana, so I know he shouldn't be able to hurt me, but I worry about the others. Cameron has already shown he is willing and capable of killing us, and I can't take another loss.

"CHARGE!" Odd yells. We add our voices to his and run at Cameron. We will fight him with every ounce of our strength. We will not be defeated.

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**

 **IN:** **Chapter 3 of 5 of The Dark Saga**

 **Don't forget to review!**

 **LyokoWarrior1994**


	34. Defeated

**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko, all copyrighting goes to Moonscoop.**

* * *

 _This chapter was written by me. It was edited by_ **AwesomeFanFictionAuthor** _and_ **AeroJester203.**

 _Cameron is owned by_ **Undeadmonkey8**. _Mary is owned by_ **AeroJester203** _ **.**_

* * *

 _Defeated_

* * *

 **Lyoko's Forest Sector**

 **POV Aelita's**

One by one we attack Cameron. We go at him from all sorts of angles, close combat, sniping...the other kinds… Even Jeremy tries to fight him, though his aim is, well, worse than Odd's. That's just a lack of combat experience, though. Something tells me even if Jeremy had more experience, it wouldn't have made much of a difference. Cameron has incredible evasion.

Suddenly, Jeremy freezes.

"My feet are stuck to the ground! I don't understand, it's as if they're magnetized!" Jeremy exclaims.

"Ha, bad luck for you, then," Cameron mocks. Cameron unholsters a long pistol in one hand and uses his other hand to pull the trigger. He lets several bullets fly and they hit their mark, right into Jeremy's chest, he devirtualizes.

"Jeremy!" We exclaim. We go at Cameron again, but his evasion skill is off the charts. We have to try something else...maybe use a little...Creativity.

I lift my hand and start to sing, concentrating on my creation. Cameron immediately catches on to my plan and aims his pistol at me to try and break my concentration. Well, it's supposed to be a threat, but I know it's a bluff. I am still connected to Xana. There is no way Cameron would kill me. However, while he concentrates on me, Yumi takes the opportunity to throw her tessen fan, which connects this time and disarms him. The others take the opportunity to swoop in and do some damage, and I finish the job by dropping a giant rock on his head.

Cameron devirtualizes.

"Nice work, Aelita," Yumi says.

"It was a team effort," I say, deflecting the praise. An attack during a funeral. Xana had no respect, no decency…

"Glad that's over with it," Odd sighs, sitting on the ground.

"Hey, uh, Jeremy? We could use a materialization," Ulrich says.

 _"Right, I'm working on it. Good job dealing with Cameron, you guys. That devirtualization was rough."_

"Not as easy as it looks, huh Einstein?" Odd asks.

 _"That's an understatement. Aelita, there's a tower close by, just north of you. Yumi, you should be able to take Lila's empty jar back with you."_

"Okay, Jeremy," Yumi says, picking up the jar.

 _"Devirtualization: Ulrich, Devirtualization: Odd. Devirtualization Yumi."_

I watch my friends devirtualize, then hop on Lila's broomstick and head to the tower for my own materialization.

 **Afterwards**

 **Back in the scanner**

When I finally materialize, I barely even bother to catch my fall...I was exhausted. But I do get up, and I do head up to the lab with the others.

 **Inside the lab**

"Now what do we do?" Ulrich asks. Jeremy holds his hands under his chin.

"Well, there aren't any classes. I'm not sure."

"Maybe we should see a movie," Odd suggests.

"You go ahead if you want. I'm going back to my room," I say.

"How come?" Yumi asks, still holding Lila's empty jar.

"There's something I need to check," I reply. They look at me suspiciously, but let it go.

"I'll go with you," Yumi offers.

"No thanks, Yumi. We took care of Cameron. Since he's gone now, he's not much of a threat. It's just Xana." I really just want to be alone right now…

"But, Aelita-" Yumi starts to say. I shake my head.

"Please go to the movies with the guys. All of you deserve it."

"Okay…" Yumi trails off. I smile a little, just to put her mind at ease.

"I'll be fine, Yumi. Enjoy the movie, ok?" I say. I look at the jar Yumi is holding.

"Um... do you want me to take care of that before I go to our room?" I ask. Yumi looks down at the jar and nods. Walking over to me, I hold my hands out. Reaching me, Yumi looks at the jar one last time, and she gives it to me. Holding it, I look at it.

 _Where should I bury_ _this?_ I think.

 **Inside Aelita and Yumi's room**

Once I get back to mine and Yumi's room, I close the door behind me very carefully, and then, just...slide down the door. Tears want to come to my eyes, but they seem to have lost their way. Burying Lila's jar in the Hermitage's yard was a smart move, but difficult. And the fact that I found an old shovel in the house made things easier, so I didn't have to clean myself up too much. At least I could use the gym's shortcut to the sewers, and then use the sewers to the Hermitage. None of us wanted to use the park to get the woods, despite the woods being reopened. For myself and the others, it was far too heartbreaking for us to go there. And burying Lila's jar was heartbreaking too but I guess I'm just out of tears. Since there's no point in sitting here if I can't release my emotions… might as well do something.

I get up and go over to one of the boxes. I pull out Lila's copy of Jeremy's laptop. I think it's time I finally looked through this laptop thoroughly. After Cameron's disruption during Lila's funeral on Lyoko, I need to find a way to defeat Xana. Turning it on, it boots up and then loads to the home screen. I start looking through the files. There's nothing out of the ordinary at a cursory glance. A few seemingly innocent videos of Older Jeremy, I look deeper and eventually find… under the cover of at least five different folders...a restricted folder!

But it wants a code...code...LYOKO! No, that would be way too obvious and stupid. This was something Lila was not meant to find, something I was meant to find...so...I blush. There's only one thing I could think of.

Yep, I type in the words "Big Fat Cheese Head" and the folder unlocks. Even in the future, he remembered our private joke.

Anyways, the file opens and it's a series of what looks like Jeremy's video diaries from 2005-2008, which meant some of these are from the future...Do I dare glance into the future?

Yes, yes, I do. I click on a video from sometime this year of 2007. I'm not sure of the month the video diary was made. Jeremy is sitting in front of his computer, he is fixing his headset.

 _"Aelita has recovered her memories, and in doing so she has discovered she is, in fact, human. Not just that, but she's Franz Hopper's daughter. The man who created the supercomputer."_

"I'm – I'm sorry, what?!"

 _"It all began with a trip to Sector Five. But that trip was a trap. Xana stole Aelita's memories, all of them! He took the keys to Lyoko… and she was dead. That's what he was after this whole time! She was only dead for a few minutes… before Hopper came out of hiding and revived his daughter. He sacrificed himself to save his daughter, but Xana escaped into the internet. We haven't heard from Xana since."_ I stop the video, my mind flooding with emotions.

I pause the video. That is...a lot to dump on a person at once… I- I'm...human? Not an artificial intelligence materialized into a human body? I was human the whole time and the daughter of the man who created the Supercomputer...I have...family? I am… This is too much to process. I let the video continue playing.

 _"If it weren't for Hopper's sacrifice, we would have lost everything. I'm very grateful to him. Aelita means the world to me. Without Aelita… I'd be lost. One thing does confuse me. If Xana kept Aelita's memory to keep her connected to him, and then get the keys, then it's safe to assume Xana kept Aelita's memory in his memory. Meaning they were in Sector Five… we probably could have found them through the terminal the entire time."_

That's the end of that video. Jeremy has a good hypothesis, an easily tested one, too. We could go check that and save some trouble. I scroll down to the bottom of the list of videos, there are many… and I'll be sure to look through them all, later. For now, I want to skip to the end. He's wearing different clothing than he usually does. His shirt is this weird brown red color? He sits cross-legged in front of the supercomputer.

 _"Well, it's done. Franz Hopper has, once again, sacrificed himself to power the multi-agent system. It turned out he didn't die when he gave Aelita her memory back. Aelita was able to launch the program in Sector Five. The program was a success, unlike Marabounta. Today, we also freed William who was under the control of Xana. The clone I made of him, by activating a tower on Lyoko, was starting to make everyone suspicious. Today, we'll be shutting down the supercomputer after lunch. I doubt Xana will ever return, but I'm backing up the details on how to create my multi-agent system on a restricted part to my laptop and the program Aelita and I could have used to bring Franz Hopper back. Just in case we need to. I doubt I'll ever forget the password… but the password_ is _Big Fat Cheese Head._

 _The file will be labeled 0X586. I'll also put it in a restricted part of the supercomputer, for safe keeping. I hope in time we can just move on from this life. Aelita has lost too much. For once… I'd like to try and see if I can admit my feelings to her, now that we can live normal lives."_

"Huh? Feelings?" I blush. The video stops there.

"0X586," I say to myself, and enter the name into the file search bar. A file comes up containing several documents. I quickly read over them.

"Jeremy – this is just fantastic!"

 **Afterwards**

I rush back to the lab with this newfound information. As I head down the elevator shaft, I realize my mistake. They went to a movie, didn't they? But, as the doors open, I find that...everyone is still there. That is...confusing, but convenient, I guess.

"Aelita we just decided which movie to watch. Did you change your mind?" Odd asks.

"Not exactly, Odd," I reply, carrying the copy of Jeremy's laptop in my arms.

"Aelita, why do you have my laptop?" Jeremy asks.

"It's not your laptop, Jeremy. Well, it is, but it's the copy from Lila's future," I answer. Ulrich's eyes widen.

"You didn't…"

"I did! And it was worth it…" I trail off.

"What did you find, Aelita?" Yumi asks.

"A lot of things! Like the fact that I'm really human and how we can find a way to unlink me to Xana. Jeremy, we've been going about this all wrong! There's no need for an antivirus, we need to go Sector Five!" I exclaim. The words just come tumbling out of my mouth, like if I didn't get it out, it would be gone.

"You're – you're human Aelita?" Jeremy asks, shocked. The rest of them look shocked, too. I nod.

"I am. Xana took specific memories from me, Jeremy. The memories of when I lived here, on Earth. That's why I've always felt such a strange connection to France. Like, I've lived here before. And that's why – it's why it felt like I was being held back when you first used Code: Earth."

"Amazing, then we can really-" Odd starts today and nodding, I confirm it.

"We can recover my memories and defeat Xana! Instead of turning the supercomputer off… I found a program that Jeremy had built. A multi-agent system."

"A multi-agent system? Didn't we already try that, when Jeremy created that horrible Marabounta?" Yumi asks.

"He did, but I have the plans all right here for one that works. And using it… we can defeat Xana… and maybe even leave the supercomputer on afterwards," I smile.

"Amazing! Can I see them, Aelita?" Jeremy asks, walking up to me.

"Sure," I reply and hand the laptop to Jeremy. He sits on the holosphere case and opens the laptop to where I left the file open. He scrolls through the file, reading the details. He fixes his glasses, pushing them to bridge of his nose.

"This is my work, alright. Incredible, the other me really found a way to defeat Xana. Xana won't be expecting this, he won't know what hit him!" Jeremy exclaims.

"How long will it take for you to recreate your own program?" Ulrich asks.

"It'll take a day...or two. The other me really laid out the groundwork, so it's only a matter of following it to the letter."

"Jeremy, there is one thing. We're going to have to account for power we need to run the program," I tell him. He puts his finger on his chin.

"Hmm… what if," he snaps his fingers. "I got it! There's this new program I've been working on. It isn't fully developed yet, and I wanted to test it out on one of you, but if I change it just a little bit and I put a rush on it, I can activate more than a few towers on Lyoko in different sectors, and redirect their power to Sector Five. After all, every time you use the tunnels to leave Sector Five, they bring you back to Lyoko, meaning Sector Five is connected to Lyoko. Or at the very least... has some sort of connection I can find."

"That'll work, I'm sure of it," I nod. I'm not sure the power can be redirected like that just because they are connected, but I believe in Jeremy.

"Okay then, two days from now… will be our final mission against Xana!" Jeremy exclaims.

"Here, here!" All of us exclaim. This is for you Lila… if you do have a soul, then I hope this will help you rest in peace.

 **Two days later**

 **April 10th**

 **Inside Aelita and Yumi's room**

It's a sad thing about losing someone you love, the day of their death, the day of their funeral... Every day without them by your side...seems to go on forever. It seems as though tomorrow will never come...but it does come, and it comes without them, and you think you are going to wake up and they'll be back...but they are not, they never are. But tomorrow comes, whether you want it to or not, tomorrow comes…

I think the person in my room is Lila, and for a moment, my heart lifts...only to be crushed again when my exhausted mind figures out it's Yumi… I really wish I could have convinced Lila to have brought her cane that night. It's still hanging in mine and Yumi's shared closed closet. If I had convinced her… maybe she could have used it against Cameron… and gotten away. It's like I've forgotten that yesterday, and the day before that, Yumi, Odd, Ulrich, and myself watched a lot of episodes from one of the TV shows Odd liked, while Jeremy worked in the lab since he mentioned modifying that new program of his, and working on recreating the other programs his future self-created. He took breaks when necessary, and slept in his room when he could. I brought him some food from the cafeteria when he was working in the lab. Rosa didn't mind since she thought I was only bringing the food to Jeremy's room. She was devastated to hear about Lila when she first found out. She figured bringing food to Jeremy under the circumstances, would be allowed. Odd had eaten a little bit of food yesterday, just enough not to be concerned. Yumi and I were about the same.

Getting up from the bed, Yumi offers to help me get rid of the black dye in my hair for this final battle, but I want to keep it like this. I'll channel all of my sadness into fury, and I'll use it to kill Xana.

 **Inside the lab**

There's a tension in the room charging us with energy that I almost think is wrong to feel directly after losing Lila.

Jeremy takes a deep breath before addressing us, "Okay, you guys, this is the home stretch. I've recreated the multi-agent system, and I'll have it ready to launch as soon as Aelita's memories are recovered. I've also developed a program that will allow my towers on Lyoko's sectors to redirect their power to our trump card. But Xana's starting to sense trouble. He's relocating his troops to each of the towers I activated. We won't have a lot of time."

"What about the key that we have to trip in Sector Five? How do we deal with that?" Odd asks.

"I've thought about that. Since this is the final mission, Odd, I've reprogrammed your Future Flash ability," Jeremy explains. "You'll be able to use it and track down the key."

Just like Lila used to… are the words he doesn't want to say.

"Alright!" Odd exclaims while holding up a fist in determination. "I won't let you guys down!"

"What about you? Are you coming to Lyoko with us?" Ulrich asks.

Jeremy shakes his head, "No. I'm of much better use behind the screens, like usual."

"Let's go," I say. We nod and head down to the scanner room.

 **Inside the scanner room**

The four of us exit the elevator and head towards the three open scanners.

 _"By the way, I'll be virtualizing all of you directly into Sector Five."_

"Whoa, really, Jeremy?" Ulrich asks.

 _"Yeah. Another program my future-self developed. It'll take less time this way."_

"Fantastic! I guess if Xana's playing dirty then we need to, too!" Odd exclaims.

 _"Right,"_ Jeremy agrees, then proceeds to virtualize us. _"I'll send you three first and then Aelita after you."_

 **In Sector Five**

 **The Arena Room**

I appear above and land directly in the receiving point for Xana's home sector, Yumi, Ulrich and Odd already there. The floor and room spin, just as always.

 _"Aelita, are you there?"_ Jeremy asks.

"Yes, Jeremy, I'm here. The virtualization was a success," I reply. Idly, I check my hair by bringing some into view with my hand to see that it's still black. And seeing my sleeve, I notice that my outfit is all around darker in color. The magenta of my top, skirt and shoes has changed to a slightly deep red, while the pink accents on the main pieces of clothing are now light grey. My cream underclothes and arm coverings weren't spared either, becoming slate in color.

Since this wasn't Jeremy's doing, I can only guess that my state of mind influenced my avatar's appearance, especially with my desire for the black hair to stay.

"It's weird without the transporter," Odd comments. "But easier on the stomach."

"Yeah," Ulrich agrees as the room starts slowing down.

 _"The door is about to open. Get ready!"_

The room's rotation comes to a stop, and the walls open the way to the rest of Sector Five. We waste no time running through the gap and down the hallway. We're on a time limit, after all.

 _"The countdown has started! Remember, you have a minute and thirty seconds to trip the key. Odd, anything yet?"_

"Nothing ye-" he starts to say but is interrupted by what I assume is a vision. He stops with a gasp, and he looks like he's in shock. He snaps out of it almost a few seconds after.

"Never mind! Follow me!" he urges. Odd turns a different direction, and we follow him. He leads us down a specific path through the corridors.

"Up ahead!" Odd he calls as we exit a specific doorway. But he holds his arm out to stop us as we enter a room with a gaping chasm in the floor preventing us from reaching the key on the opposite wall above a narrow ledge.

"Great! What do we do now?" Ulrich asks.

"I have an idea," Yumi answers. She puts her hands at her temples, becoming enveloped in the pink aura signifying her telekinesis. The glow covers me as well as I levitate into the air.

"Yumi… you think you can make it?" I ask.

Jeremy chimes in, _"She can, Aelita. But hurry, there's only 50 seconds left."_

I'm brought closer to the edge before my body is thrown across the empty space. I scream in surprise as I fly in the air, getting closer to the wall where the countdown key is. But I start falling.

" _Aelita!"_ Jeremy exclaims the same as the rest of my friends do.

I barely manage to catch myself on the edge and force myself to climb up.

 _"35 seconds!"_

Getting up, I run across the ledge to the section of the wall where the key is.

 _"30, 29, 28, 27, 26, 25."_ I press my hand on the mechanism, and it sinks into itself to form the Xana sign with its glowing lines. The room reconfigures as a section of the wall opens into another doorway.

 _"Nice work Aelita. Great throw Yumi, but a little too close for comfort."_

"Sorry Jeremy," Yumi says. Looking over the edge, blocks start to appear from below, locking together to form a bridge between the two ledges.

"Let's go!" I exclaim.

Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi nod as they run across the newly formed path to rejoin me.

 **At the lift for the elevator**

"Jeremy, how are your towers doing?" I ask as we wait for the elevator to come down.

 _"Not too well. Xana's obliterating them one by one. There's more than enough left, you just need to step on it!"_

"Right," I say. Hearing the elevator coming, I call to the others, "Now!"

All of us make the leap and the elevator brings us to the entrance of the Celestial Dome.

The door opens, and we run on the bridge, with me leading the way to the data interface. As the screen appears, I start moving my hands through the files I've seen in the past.

"I'm looking through them now, Jeremy. Once I find my memories, I'll upload them to my mind." I turn my head slightly towards my shoulder to address Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich along with Jeremy while still keeping my eyes focused on the holographic panel, "It might render me unconscious; if that happens, I'll need you three to protect me. If I'm not here to launch the program, then…"

"We'll protect you, Aelita. Don't worry," Ulrich reassures me.

Glancing up, I don't see any Mantas hatching. I almost pause, but can't afford to right now.

"Jeremy… there are no Mantas appearing here. Where are they?" I ask while continuing my search.

 _"On Lyoko! They've just destroyed all of the towers I activated in the Forest Sector! They're moving on to the Desert Sector! Any luck?"_

"No, nothing…" I trail off, continuing to look through the files. One folder that I press expands into a firewall, numbers streaming across the screen in a similar manner to the walls of Sector Five.

Knowing that Xana wouldn't have security for no reason, I use my link with Lyoko to reach into the window and start decoding and bypassing the firewall.

 _Xana, for an emotionless AI, putting such a weak security as the only prevention measure was an arrogant mistake,_ I muse. The firewall disappears and reveals a window with a glowing sphere.

"Jeremy! I think I found them, I found my memories!" I exclaim.

 _"Okay, upload them quickly! Xana knows we're here now! You have Bots coming your way!"_

"Cover Aelita!" Yumi exclaims to the other two boys, taking out her tessen fans while Odd and Ulrich ready their own weapons.

As they cover me, I press the sphere and it begins fading from the hologram as my memories load into my mind. Once it completely vanishes, I hunch over. Feeling the mental backlash, I pass out.

 **Inside Aelita's mind**

I'm in the snowy country of Switzerland, rolling a ball of snow for a snowman. Looking at my parents on the porch of our house, a small cabin, my daddy waves to me with a warm smile. He's an old man, somewhere in his fifties with a beard that's starting to go gray along with his hair. A pair of tinted glasses covers his eyes, and he's wearing an orange winter jacket to shield against the cold.

My mom, who has short pink hair, is wearing a heavier brown coat.

" _Don't go too far, sweetheart!"_ Mommy calls to me.

 _"I won't, mommy!_ " I exclaim, turning back to her and daddy, smiling.

 **Christmas time**

Months passed by, and now I'm in the Hermitage in Paris, France. It's Christmas time, and I open up a wrapped box my parents laid out for me. It's an elf doll in cute clothes with a pointed hat and a long sash, along with pointy-toed boots.

 _"Aww, he's so cute,"_ I say. _"What should I call him?"_ I ask my parents.

 _"What about Mister Puck? It means 'Goblin,'"_ my daddy suggests.

 _"Do you like him?"_ my mommy asks. Her pink hair has grown a lot longer.

I wrap my arms around her in a hug, _"Yes, I do! Thank you, mommy!"_

 **Months later**

Some time has passed and I'm with my dad at the piano in his work study.

 _"It's like math,"_ he explains. "Let me show you." He starts playing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Looking at him, I look at my mom. She's reading a book with a content smile, and I listen happily to the tune. For some reason, she suddenly disappears as the melody grows slightly sad.

 _"Mommy?"_ I ask.

 **Years later**

I'm older now, eleven years old. I ride my bike home to the Hermitage through a well-worn path in the small forest around our home. I open the door to see my dad is playing the piano. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, the same song he always plays when I get home. It was never as cheerful as it used to be, though.

 _"Daddy?"_ I call to him. He turns his head slightly but doesn't face me. _"I'm going to my room."_

 **Inside Aelita's room**

Upstairs, I'm lying on my bed and listening to my dad who is still playing the piano downstairs. But it abruptly stops, and I sit up in confusion as the last note fades.

 _"Alright, come out of there!"_ someone exclaims from outside.

Running to the window, I gasp at the sight of two men wearing black suits.

 _"Daddy!"_ I call as I turn away from the window, hearing my father's footfalls up the stairs. Meeting him at my doorway, I say, _"The men in black are here."_

 _"I know,"_ he replies. _"Do you remember where Mister Puck is?"_

 _"Yes,"_ I answer, glancing at the poster of the forest in my room.

 _"Come quickly,"_ he urges. Nodding, I follow him, and we run down the stairs.

The men in black enter our house as we reach the ground floor, and I gasp.

 _"Take my hand,"_ my daddy instructs. I do so, and he helps pull me along, so I don't fall behind as we're chased by the men in black.

 **Outside**

We make it into our garden, and my dad closes the door behind us. He wedges a plank of wood under the doorknob to slow down the government agents.

 _"There."_ Grabbing my hand again, he leads me to another door. We move through it and run down a hidden staircase into the sewers.

 **Inside the lab**

Reaching what looks like a very advanced lab with several monitors near a chair my dad sits on. He starts typing and what I think is a podium at first displays a holographic sphere.

I look around, _"Where are we?"_

 _"In my laboratory,"_ he answers before turning to me. _"Come on."_

He gets off the chair and leads me to the elevator we came in.

 _"Where are we going?"_ I ask him.

 _"To a world where we will be safe. You and I, forever."_

 **Inside the scanner room**

I'm in a cylindrical cabin, and I look to the middle one where my daddy is.

 _"See you in a minute, honey,"_ he says.

I nod, trusting that he knows what he's doing, _"See you in a minute, daddy."_

The cylindrical cabin's doors close, and the inside is lit. It's too bright for my eyes, and I close them. Inside the cabin, the machinery starts spinning. As it picks up in speed, it starts humming. A bright flash of light and gust of wind are the last things I register.

 **Afterwards**

 **Lyoko's Forest Sector**

Opening my eyes, I see myself falling in some sort of forest area. I land on the ground safely.

 _"Daddy, where are you?"_ I ask, looking for my dad. A strange sparkling ball appears in front of me.

 _"Aelita,"_ his voice says from the sphere. _"Something's gone wrong with my virtualization. I have to go and talk to Xana to convince him to let us live here in peace."_

I tilt my head, enunciating, _"Xa-na?"_

 _"He's an artificial intelligence that lives here on Lyoko."_

Hearing a strange noise, I look to my right and see some sort of cockroach-like creature with robotic legs and an eye-like pattern on its front.

 _"What is that thing?_ " I ask.

 _"Run, Aelita! Run!"_ daddy urges. The roach creature starts firing a laser. I run, following my daddy as he tries to lead me to safety.

 _"Xana's become too autonomous!"_ he exclaims. _"I'm going to have to shut him down."_

 _"But what will happen to us?"_ I ask, and continue running along the forest path.

 _"You'll be safe from Xana once I shut the supercomputer down. I'll try to hide myself somewhere… if that's possible. You'll be safe in the tower,_ " my dad explains as he continues leading me towards a tree-like structure with a blue aura over its bare top half. _"Once the supercomputer is off, it'll be as if you were sleeping."_

More creatures show up as we get closer. This time they're ugly flying bugs with the same symbol in the middle of their eyeless heads. They start shooting lasers, and my father shields me with his orb body, pixels coming off with each hit.

 _"Daddy, no!"_ I exclaim.

 _"It's going to be okay Aelita; get inside the tower! You'll be safe there!"_ he calls back. Nodding, I rush to the tower, but I hear one of the creatures firing a laser. It hits me in the back and I'm thrown into the tower, phasing into some sort of doorway.

I stumble across a narrow walkway and fall onto a round platform, a glowing circle lighting up from my body touching it. But before I can wonder why, my eyes start becoming heavy. I fade into unconsciousness, but I hear my daddy's voice.

 _Never forget me Aelita. Never forget who you are._

 **2005**

My eyes open. I look around, seeing that I'm on the center of some sort of floating platform with a symbol reminiscent of an eye. I have no memory as to why I'm here or even who I am.

 _"He-hello?_ " I stammer, hoping for an answer.

I try to get up. It seems I've been asleep for some time. Where is here, anyway? When I get to my feet, the symbol on the platform lights up and I jump a little out of fright.

 _"Is–is_ _anyone there?"_ I ask.

Surprisingly, another voice answers, _"Uh_ _,_ _hello. Is someone there?"_

 _"Who are you? Why can't I see you?"_ I ask. It's a boy that just spoke, though I don't know how I'm so sure since I can't remember anything else. By the person's tone… I think they're a boy. Their tone doesn't sound anything like mine.

 _"Jeremy. Jeremy Belpois. I turned this supercomputer on. It's in an abandoned factory. Are… are you in the computer or something?"_

 _"I – I think so._ " Looking at myself, I see I'm some sort of elf-like creature.

 _"Do you have a name?"_ Jeremy asks.

Trying to think of one, I shake my head as if he can see me doing that.

 _"No, sorry."_

 _"Well, I can't call you 'artificial intelligence.' Doesn't seem right. Everyone deserves a name. How about… Maya?"_

I put my finger on my chin, thinking about it, _"Maya… I like that a lot. Has a nice ring to it. But what I'd really like to know is why I'm here in the first place."_

 **End of memories**

Waking up in Sector Five, I look above as Mantas are flying around my friends. They seem to be back in this sector, with the Xana Bots nowhere in sight.

Odd, Ulrich and Yumi continue to fight them, the brunet mainly on defense while standing near me with his katana while his long-range fighting teammates fight the flying enemies. Yumi is nearby, throwing one tessen at a time while keeping the other one for defense. Odd, meanwhile, is flying around on his Overboard, both acting as a distraction and shooting down any monster he can with his Laser Arrows.

Getting up, I run over to the interface, "Jeremy, they've been uploaded. I remember everything."

" _That's great Aelita, the program is ready to launch! Please hurry, you were out for a while and all of my towers are almost destroyed! There's only a few left in the Mountain Sector."_

"Right!" I exclaim. But before I can reach the screen, another manta hatches from the wall and flies at me. I roll to the side as it fires at me, and I start to feel a tingling sensation in my hand. A deep purple ball of spiraling energy forms in my palm, and I throw it at the monster. The Manta is unable to dodge it, and the energy ball destroys it after impact.

"Awesome, Aelita!" Odd exclaims from afar.

Going back to the interface, I see Jeremy's program on it. Pressing my hand on the interface, it accepts my handprint and a mass of white spheres begin emerging from the holographic screen.

They fly for the Mantas, engulfing them in an instant. The monsters screech before exploding. Going up to my friends, we watch Jeremy's multi-agent program as it disperses to deal with Xana's monsters, going down all four tunnels to the other sectors and into the sphere of Sector Five itself. With the threat removed, Odd pulls his Overboard alongside us, hovering nearby.

"Woah…" Ulrich trails off, he sheathes his Katana.

I can almost feel something shift in Lyoko, "Jeremy… something's happening."

 _"It's working Aelita… Xana's dying…"_

"Serves him right," Yumi says with no regret.

As a high-pitched screeching gets our attention, we look around until Odd points, "Giant jellyfish at eight 'o clock!"

Looking to where he indicated, we see the Scyphozoa being attacked by the white spheres, its body deteriorating all the while. The Scyphozoa screeches one more time and disintegrates under the assault, leaving a vapor like substance that is also removed by the multi-agent system. After the smoke clears and the spheres clear away, we see someone falling. My eyes widen when I see that it's Mary.

"Odd!" I urge.

Odd dives down on the Overboard with a quick reply of "On it!"

His steep dive manages to outpace Mary's freefall, and he pulls up underneath her to catch the friendly spectre on the board before decelerating and beginning to fly back up towards us.

I sigh in relief, and he arrives soon after with her draped over the front portion of his vehicle. Ulrich and Yumi help me bring Mary off the Overboard and we gently lay her on the ground. Her Lyoko outfit is near identical to the one she wears in the real world, save for the more digital appearance, her suit neatly pressed and with a silver trim on the sleeves and lapels. Her avatar seems slightly emaciated, an odd sight on Lyoko, but her nature as a spectre probably means that anything that affects her reflects on her avatar and being in Xana's possession can't have been any good experience.

 _"Is she okay, Aelita?"_ Jeremy asks. Bending down, I look at her. She starts groaning in pain, and her eyes open. She looks at us.

Once she manages to gain her bearings, she asks, "What are all of you doing here?"

"We've defeated Xana, Mary," I answer her.

"You – you know my name?" Mary asks. She apparently doesn't recognize me with the differences in my avatar. Then her eyes narrow in recognition, "Wait… that's right, now I remember. You were there in that room with Lila. You're... Aelita. What happened to your pink hair, Aelita? And your outfit…"

She starts looking around, I assume for Lila, "Where's Lila?"

"Mary, um… A lot's happened…" Ulrich says, rubbing his neck uncomfortably.

Odd asks, "Is there a way we can devirtualize you and talk to you back on Earth?"

"There's no need to," Mary responds somewhat shortly. "I can exit the supercomputer at will because of my shapeshifting abilities."

She struggles for a moment before getting up without our help. She stands and looks at us with a serious gaze.

"You didn't answer my question: Where's Lila?"

Looking at Mary, I can tell that this is going to be a difficult moment to get through. How am I going to tell Mary that… Lila is dead?

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**

 **IN** **Chapter 4 of 5 of The Dark Saga**

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 _Author's note: I hope everyone has enjoyed this chapter. With two chapters left to go until The Dark Saga is completed, I still have a lot more surprises in store for this fanfiction. While Xana has been defeated, this is certainly not the end of this fanfiction. More chapters will be uploaded after The Dark Saga is completed._

 _As you've noticed I'm trying something different for the author's note, credits for my editors and the disclaimer. I hope this new format is more organized for you my readers._

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Don't forget to review!

LyokoWarrior1994


	35. Decisions

**Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is copyrighted by Moonscoop.**

* * *

 _This chapter was written by me and edited by_ **AeroJester203.**

* * *

 _Cameron is owned by_ **Undeadmonkey8.** _Mary is owned by_ **AeroJester203.**

 _Author's note: Readers discretion advised._

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 _Decisions_

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 **Sector Five**

 **POV Aelita's**

"Where's Lila?" Mary asks of me again.

Swallowing my anxiety, I request, "Jeremy, materialize the others. I need to talk to Mary alone and privately please."

 _"Okay, Aelita,"_ he replies, _"Materialization: Odd, Materialization: Yumi, Materialization: Ulrich."_

Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi devirtualize and I cut the link to Jeremy's headset in the lab.

"Mary… there's no easy way to tell you this…" I trail off. "Lila's dead…"

Mary's eyes widen, "She's – she's what?"

Looking to the floor, I let her take in the news, but she grabs me by the shoulders and begins shaking me with my head still hanging down.

"What happened?! Who did this?!" she demands.

Mary stops shaking me but still looks desperate to know, torn between rage and disbelief.

I take a deep breath and look at her, "It was Xana. He enlisted a young boy who went by the name of Cameron Jones. That boy infiltrated our group, got us to trust him… and at one point he made his first attempt at killing Lila by shooting her point blank. Though it didn't work; she survived, if with difficulty moving afterwards. But… he tried again, and this time he shot her in the head."

A look of grief overwhelms Mary, and she collapses to her knees as her slackened hands drop off of my shoulders into her lap.

"This shouldn't have happened. None of this should have happened. How – how did you kids beat Xana so early?" she asks.

I sit on the floor, across from her, "We used the copy of Future Jeremy's laptop. It had all the information we needed to wipe out Xana completely. He changed our friend's destiny, and we changed his."

"You changed the timeline's history," she replies in shock. Then she looks to me, "What will all of you do now?"

I sigh sadly, "Get on with our lives. What else can we do?"

Mary regards me for a moment before her eyes widen, "Is–is that Lila's necklace?"

"Yes. I've become its protector. For some reason, it seems to give a very specific ability to the person who wears it. For Lila, it was her magic, until Xana took that away. Then it sort of recalibrated itself to these new ice powers she… obtained. And for me, it's a force field."

"Forcefield? You mean like an Energy Field?" the spectre asks.

"Energy Field? You mean this?" I ask, holding out my hand, beginning to feel the tingling sensation in it again. A deep purple ball of spiraling energy forms in my palm.

"That's it, though it's a different color. In Lila's timeline, that was called an Energy Field. And… this also means you have the capability to devirtualize normally now," Mary explains.

"I see," I say, and lower my hand, dispersing the energy.

She seems to realize something else, and her brow furrows slightly, "How did you power the multi-agent system this time around?"

"Jeremy created a program that allowed us to use Lyoko's towers and redirected their energy into the program. He found some sort of connection between the tunnels and Lyoko."

Mary's eyes widen, and she stands up, "If that's true, then- Oh my God… you can materialize your father, Aelita!"

"I – I can?" I ask, getting up.

"The information should be on the copy of Jeremy's laptop," she explains.

Looking up, I close my eyes and reestablish the link with Jeremy.

"Jeremy, I told Mary," I report. "And she's just given me some news."

" _Yes, Aelita?"_ Jeremy asks.

Mary speaks up, "Jeremy, this is Mary. Listen I need you to pull up the materialization codes in the copy of your laptop. Do you know where that is?"

 _"Yes, I do. It should be where I keep the codes now. What am I looking for?"_

"You'll see a list of codes for you, Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, and someone named William Dunbar. He was a warrior for a little while in Lila's world. Anyways, keep scrolling past that and you should see a materialization code labeled 'FH.'"

 _"I see it,"_ he confirms. _"Whose code is that?"_

"Jeremy… it's my father's materialization code," I answer.

 _"Really?! Then...Of course! Franz Hopper is your father! Aelita, you have to get to a tower so that I can rematerialize you to greet him!"_ Jeremy exclaims.

"There's no need to, Jeremy. Now that I have my memories back, Mary has told me I can devirtualize normally now, like all of you."

 _"What? Hang on, let me check…"_ After a pause, he adds, _"She's right! You can! Okay… Materialization: Aelita."_

"I'll see you back there," Mary says.

"Okay," I say as my body begins to devirtualize, Lyoko disappearing from view.

 **Inside the scanner room**

My vision returns as I find myself in the cabin of the scanner once again. The doors open while I regain my bearings, and I hear the freight elevator's doors opening. Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi rush inside when they see me, and I step out to meet them.

White smoke emerges from one of the grates in the floor and forms into Mary. She appears much paler than she looked on Lyoko.

"Jeremy, I've arrived in the scanner room now. Launch the process," Mary says.

 _"Okay… Materialization: Franz Hopper,"_ Jeremy announces anxiously.

All of us huddle up and look at the center scanner as it whirs to life. It hums for a while, longer than it usually took for us, and then opens at last. Smoke wafts out, obscuring a hunched figure leaning against the back wall, coughing. A hand exits the fog to grab at the doorway of the scanner. Using it to support himself, he stands up straighter in an attempt to leave the scanner as the smoke clears. My eyes widen at the sight of my father, exactly as I remembered from my memories without having aged a day.

"It's – it's really you," I say, stunned.

As Odd and Yumi cheer, Ulrich pumps his fist and exclaims, "Jeremy you did it! Hopper is with us!"

"Aelita – is that really you?" Franz asks.

"It is…" I answer gingerly. "A lot's happened, dad," I answer.

He looks at all of us and nods, "I see you made a few friends. I'm glad. Could you help me out of the scanner and into my lab? I'm afraid I'm a little unused to having a body again."

I nod, going over to him. I help him out of the scanner and support him as we walk to the freight elevator.

 **Inside the lab**

Jeremy gives my father the monitor chair to sit in, and he takes it with a relieved sigh, inviting us to explain what happened during his absence while the fatigue wears off. Well over half an hour later, after giving him a condensed version of the events from meeting Jeremy to the present day, he manages to adjust himself to sit up straight.

Franz has his hands folded in his lap with a grave expression, looking up momentarily to say, "I'm proud of you kids. All of you took the chance to do something good. To become heroes, and fix my mistakes."

"It wasn't easy sir," Yumi says.

He shakes his head, "I believe you. I'm very sorry about your friend. About the young man that took her from you… what will you do about him?"

We all look at each other.

"Cameron's dead, isn't he?" Ulrich asks.

Franz rubs his chin, "No, I don't believe he is. From what you've explained to me, it seems the young man may just simply be lost in the Digital Sea. Or more likely, upon devirtualization he was redirected to Xana's home in Sector Five. He's possibly asleep."

"Then… you're saying we can materialize him?" Jeremy asks, to which my father nods.

I frown slightly, "Should we? He killed Lila, Jeremy… he doesn't deserve our forgiveness."

"I'm not saying we should forgive him, Aelita. But people are going to want answers as to why he killed Lila too. There was the notice put out for him a while back, and people will begin to wonder how a young man escaped the police for more than a month. We should at least try to find some things out first, before bringing him in for questioning," Jeremy reasons. "And if we can save him… then we should take that chance too…"

"I agree with Einstein. I still think he was possessed somehow… that's why I think we should save him too..." Odd mutters.

I look at Odd, then the others. Even Mary seems to agree to this, and she has the most reason to hate Cameron.

"Okay…" I reluctantly agree.

"I'll meet all of you downstairs in the scanner room," Mary offers. "If he tries something, I can protect you. Even if in my current state, I can still do some damage, but I need to be careful about the amount of energy I use."

"Thank you, Mary," Yumi says.

We all head downstairs to the scanner room as Jeremy stands by my father at his chair.

 **Inside the scanner room**

All of us stand to face the center scanner, taking up defensive positions.

 _"Okay… Materialization: Cameron,"_ Jeremy announces.

The scanner starts humming, growing louder over time before it finally opens and reveals Cameron. Sure enough, he's asleep as my father predicted.

 _"Jeremy, did you see that?"_ Franz asks.

 _"Yeah, I did,"_ Jeremy answers. " _Guys, there was a bug during the materialization process. It originated from Cameron's watch."_

Mary goes over to look at Cameron, stooping down a short distance beside him. Part of me hopes she's going to hurt him for the pain he caused us, but instead she stares at him unblinkingly, almost as if she's scanning him.

She leans her head down and looks closely at the watch. All of us are silent as we see her hands begin to generate pink electricity. Mary moves them to Cameron's wristwatch and shocks it specifically.

The item sparks with electricity as if shorting out and snaps off of Cameron's wrist, falling to the floor. Mary picks it up and she looks at the clock face for a moment before taking it off and gasping. She turns around, showing the opened watch in front of us and all of us react with shock as well.

"Is… is that what I think it is?" Ulrich hesitantly asks.

I don't want to believe it, but I can see the object in Cameron's watch. It's the chip… the same kind of microchip that Jeremy destroyed not too long ago.

"But that means…" I gulp. "Cameron… He's a victim too."

"Do you think he'll have any recollection of what he did?" Yumi asks Mary.

"I… I have no idea," she replies. "This chip… I've never seen it before. But it appears as if it was controlling him."

"That was our theory on the chips, too," I confirm. "Jeremy… what are we going to do when he wakes up?"

 _"I have no idea Aelita…"_ Jeremy trails off.

My father speaks up, _"Children if I may… I do believe I have a solution. The Return to the Past can bring you back in time, but it has a limit of two days. With the threat of Xana no longer an issue, the return to the past program can be used to wipe Cameron's memory, completely of Lila. It has that function – to use it specifically on one person."_

Ulrich looks at Cameron with a slight frown, "Then…. That means he'd get away with killing Lila."

 _"I'm afraid it does Ulrich,"_ Jeremy replies. _"But remember now we know Cameron is a victim of Xana's manipulations too. And… at one point when he was sleeping in our room…"_

He seems hesitant to continue, but does so anyways, _"He talked in his sleep. He seemed to be asking Lila out on a date, which probably means he had a crush on her."_

I pause at the information, thinking things over before I turn to Odd and Yumi, "What do you two think?"

"I say we save him," Odd replies with only a moment's thought. "It wouldn't be fair to lose someone that was close to us again."

I look at Yumi, who seems more hesitant, and she answers, "I…. I'll go along with whatever you decide Aelita."

Nodding, I look up and say, "Jeremy, did you get that?"

 _"I did, Aelita. But a thought occurred to me: What about the rest of the school? They'll still know Lila was… killed. How do we explain how Cameron lost all of his memories to the school? And the police for that matter? And what about that news notice that was put on him? The whole world knows he's a criminal."_

Mary gets up and looks at all of us before sighing.

"Jeremy… if that's the case I'm afraid I'm going to need to modify the Return to the Past program so that Cameron and _everyone else_ can forget about Lila entirely. A full memory wipe on the whole world. In doing so, no one will remember that Cameron killed Lila, because to them Lila will never have existed. While in my spectre form, I can move through the electric grid for swift travel to gather the evidence of Lila's existence… and destroy it. Including erasing any digital and physical evidence of Cameron's crime. I can create a program that would allow me to track any anomalies, let's call them, tied to specific mentions of Cameron's crime if the memory wipe isn't fully successful. lt can take a while erasing all of that data. If I weren't a spectre, I'd honestly say that would be impossible. It could be a matter of months before all of that data is truly erased from the world."

She seems to turn somber again at the thought, but continues, "I'll make sure that none of you forget, but this would best for everyone else… There's still the matter of Cameron's memory loss, yes, but I'll personally provide him a reasonable explanation as to why he lost his memory. However in doing this... I imagine the school has given you time off to grieve for Lila correct?"

All of us nod.

"I see... I'm afraid when I do this, everyone's memories at the school would, in turn, be erased so that they have no recollection of Cameron's crime, and Lila. Therefore Delmas would not remember giving you that time off to grieve for Lila's passing, because to him, there was never a Lila to begin with. Classes would resume accordingly. You kids will need to act as is if nothing happened… do you all agree to this?" The others nod, but I'm a bit hesitant.

"Um Mary… I have one request," I say.

"Yes Aelita?" Mary asks.

"Can… can you please keep Lila's grave? That way… we can visit her…" I trail off. Part of me wants to tell Mary that Lila isn't in the casket. The other part me… is concerned about how she'll react if she finds out that there isn't someone to say goodbye to. Perhaps it was a mistake in having a cremation for Lila.

"I'll honor that request Aelita. When I modify the Return to the Past program, I'll make it so it doesn't erase Lila's grave. It has the capability of not erasing certain targeted objects and places, besides erasing people's memories. It simply has… other limitations," Mary tells me.

What she means is, it can't bring back anybody that died. I simply nod.

"Right…" I trail off. "Thank you, Mary."

All of us look at each other and head to the elevator. Once we're all inside, I press the red button. The doors close, and the elevator brings us up into the lab.

 **Later**

 **Inside the lab**

Mary is sitting on the chair as she types away at an incredibly fast speed, faster than I think any human can. It makes sense since she's a spectre, I suppose. My father looks at me, I believe because he can tell that I'm upset.

"Aelita… are you sure about this?" he asks.

I nod, "I am."

Though he doesn't look completely convinced, he turns to Jeremy, "I've been meaning to ask you… How did you find that connection with the tunnels, to program that multi-agent system of yours?" Franz asks.

"Well… it was already there. I assumed you put it in when you created Lyoko and Carthage," Jeremy replies.

Franz shakes his head, "No, no. I created them separately. In the very beginning, Carthage was a military program used to block enemy communications. When Xana became too autonomous, he took it over and made it his home. There's no reason he would make that connection; he'd make it separate from Lyoko entirely. The tunnels are rather interesting though. Perhaps he wanted to watch over Lyoko as the new master. But nevertheless, that connection should have been impossible."

"Then… how did…?" I wonder.

Odd raises a finger, "Could it have been MB's doing?"

Mary stops typing and looks at him, "MB? Who's MB?"

"We found this suitcase in my father's train station locker a while back," I explain. "It had the initials 'MB' on it. Someone specifically knew where to put that suitcase, and inside it was a laptop with an eight-digit security code. It seemed simple enough at first glance but became rather difficult to crack. Just six days ago, the laptop died because we had entered too many combinations."

"How many did you enter?" Mary asks.

I shake my head, "A lot, too many, honestly."

She stops typing momentarily, appearing deep in thought, "Right, well, I'm not sure who this MB person is, but if they knew about Lyoko and Franz Hopper, and if they didn't work with Franz at all on the supercomputer, then-"

Ulrich interrupts her tangential speech, asking, "What are you trying to say?"

"It's possible we're dealing with another time traveler," Mary reveals.

"Huh?!" All of us exclaim, minus my father.

Yumi regains her bearings first and asks, "Is there any way of finding out?"

"No, there isn't," the spectre answers. "We're not even sure where we would find this hypothetical time traveler. Aelita, Jeremy, you mentioned this laptop had multiple combinations, right? How many, exactly?"

Jeremy puts his hand on his chin, "Well if I remember right the laptop had about 40,320 possible combinations. Why do you ask?"

"Well… the math would be wrong. If it was an eight-digit coded laptop then it would have been impossible for you, Aelita or Lila to crack because there would have been one hundred million possible combinations. Did you forget to include letters, special characters like the sort you would use in an email, for example?" Mary asks.

Were the situation not so serious, I would've blushed in embarrassment at such an oversight. At length, I say, "Oh… Yes, we did… Our math was off, then— _far_ off. Well, that's rather embarrassing, but it explains why the laptop died so soon."

 _"Um… Guys, why am I in the scanner?"_ Cameron asks from the scanner room, his voice coming from the speakers of the computer. _"And why do I feel like someone used my body as a puppet?"_

"Uh-oh, Cameron's awake," Odd whispers. "What do we do?"

"The program is modified," Mary reports in an equally low tone, silently asking to activate it. All of us nod.

Cameron continues calling, _"Um, guys…? Hello? Lila, are you there?"_

I wince at that… he really doesn't remember.

Mary types on the keyboard swiftly and she hovers her finger on the enter key.

"Return to the past… NOW!" Mary exclaims, pressing the button. All of us look at the holosphere, seeing a big red bubble forming inside of it instead of the usual white color. After a brief moment, it expands outward and brings us back in time.

 **Two days earlier**

 **April 8th**

 **Inside Aelita and Yumi's room**

Waking up, the sun is shining through the window. Looking around, part of me is happy that Yumi is still here with me… but I'm still sad that Lila's gone. At least I have Lila's necklace and cane to remember her by... I think I'll be keeping them for a while.

 **Afterwards**

We returned to our classes as Mary instructed, after meeting her and my father in the lab this morning. We acted as if anything didn't happen. Thankfully Delmas remembered that Yumi was my roommate, so when he and Jim stopped by for an inspection, he passed off Lila's boxes as Yumi's. He and Jim didn't comment about my black hair dye. When opening mine and Yumi's shared closet, he was surprised to see a cane in there, amongst everything else. I explained to him that it was an object I found in the woods one stroll during an afternoon. Not giving it a further thought, he and Jim finished our inspection, passing us with flying colors. He and Jim left to do the other inspections.

After that Yumi and I went about our day, having lunch, and finishing up our classes. It's too bad Yumi can't have classes with us, but she is the oldest one in the group, so there's not much that can be changed about that. After they were done though, Yumi and I then decided to meet with the others for dinner. All of us were quiet given what we've been through. Jeremy did mention that he brought Cameron to Mary, earlier in the day. The three of them talked in the park about Cameron's memory problems.

Jeremy told us that Mary told Cameron that he had accidentally fallen off a ladder when working in cleaning up the Hermitage for Mary and my father, a job Mary hired Cameron for, but made up nonetheless. He seemed to be grateful the injury wasn't serious and Mary told Cameron not to worry about cleaning the Hermitage anymore, that she would take care of it. He did mention to Jeremy he remembered being friends with us, and Jeremy said that was because he met us through him, since they were roommates. It makes sense that he wouldn't remember, given he met all of us through Lila. At the end of their conversation, Cameron seemed to have agreed to his situation and went about his classes during the day. Before Jeremy left Mary, she apparently told him the tracking program is up and running and she'd be keeping the copy of Jeremy's laptop to run it.

During this conversation Jeremy relayed to us, all of us just nodded. We couldn't be more grateful that the Return trip to the Past program worked except... we paid a price for it. Before we started our classes today, we had found out that the supercomputer's battery was massively drained given what it had to do... and so we had no choice but to deactivate the supercomputer entirely. I think that's why most of us are quiet right now, that's not much to talk about with Lyoko missing from our lives. I could feel, as Jeremy was talking about Mary's program and how fast she created it, that there were some students staring at me for black hair dye. I ignored their stares and continued to listen to Jeremy.

After dinner, we had to burn Lila's things, including MB's laptop. A fat lot of good that did. I can honestly say that it wasn't a good experience. Nobody said anything since Mary could only stare at the memories of Lila turning to ashes, my father seemed unable to console anybody since he didn't really know Lila that well, and the rest of us had a funeral for Lila already on Lyoko. All we could do was resolve to carry Lila's memory on in our hearts. And I'm going to... I'm going to visit Lila's grave every chance I get. I think Mary will visit it daily... she has the time to do so.

 **Weeks later**

Weeks have passed since I've visited Lila's grave. I can't bring myself to visit it anymore. It's too heartbreaking. I feel terrible for Mary.

All Mary has to remember Lila by is her diary and the spherical device she arrived in. She let me keep the cane and necklace, though she wouldn't say why, just that she could understand that we were close. Something tells me that there's more to that statement, but I don't want to pry since she's still in mourning.

My father and Mary have moved into a house. She predicted some lottery number a while back, and she still had quite a bit of money—a little under half a million Euros, to be exact. Who knew? The house is big, lots of rooms and a nice open studio style living room with two sofas. There's a big table in the living room for eating and a nice fireplace in the living room as well. I was rather impressed by it all when we first visited. During this time, she cleaned the chain, as she wanted to make sure no one would question a bloodstained necklace, I was reluctant to agree.

During that day I visited her, she took the necklace back to fix it up. I had the time to talk my father. He's been keeping his mind active through word puzzles. He mentioned to me that Mary has cooked all of his meals for him. He admitted to me he felt guilty, but he told me she said that she needed something to do to keep her busy. He has also told me that Mary does visit Lila's grave every morning before breakfast. He assumes it's because she is a spectre, she can travel quickly to different places. He's rather impressed by her recovery, given the amount of time she had was trapped in the Scyphozoa's mind. He can't imagine the physical and psychological torture Mary has been through... and I don't want to imagine it either.

After spending a few hours with talking to my father about other things, Mary brings back the necklace. The chain part is no longer bloodstained, and I'm a bit surprised so I asked her how she did it. She tells me that she went out to look for the right chain that would look close enough to the original. She had brought Lila's necklace to Kadic's woods for privacy. She mentioned she transformed into her white smoke form, entered the treasure chest part and took off the old chain. From there she simply installed the new chain, while still inside the treasure chest part, and using her own electrical powers she wielded everything together. After a few minutes of doing this, she expelled herself out of the treasure chest part. Replacing a new chain was a simple task for her. Searching for the right chain was why she was gone for so long. My father and I didn't even notice she had left the house.

Mary gave me the necklace back, and I put it on and hid the treasure chest part under my t-shirt, that's covered by my pink hoodie I'm wearing.

A few days had passed after that.

I visited Mary again and she admitted to me she won the money because she has the ability to process and predict multiple numbers in an instant. She lied to Lila about getting numbers from Jeremy in the future. She probably could have cracked MB's laptop more quickly than us, if Xana hadn't taken her away. Mary still runs the tracking program daily, and there have been no signs of anyone remembering what Cameron has done.

After I visited Mary, I walked back to Kadic as I began to think just how much all of us are hurt that he's gotten away with murder, but we did what we had to do. Jeremy recently asked him to move into William's room, and Cameron agreed to it.

I can't seem to move on from losing Lila, even after all this time. While it's only been weeks since I last visited Lila's grave, it seems like years have passed to me. The others are almost back to normal, and I'm grateful Odd has his appetite back. I was worried about him. One bright spot, though, was that Sissi still stayed with us, acting friendly and joining in our activities during classes. While she seemed to be mainly inviting herself at first, we gradually accepted her since she seemed sincere.

I also decided to let the dye fade from my hair, returning it to its regular pink color. A lot of people questioned my new and confusing look when I still had it, but I simply ignored their stares. I didn't feel like I needed to give them a response. Even when Jim and Delmas gave Yumi and I that surprise inspection, I could feel that Jim and Delmas were concerned with my hair. I'm glad they didn't make comments about it like the other students have, but I no longer have to worry about it since my hair color is back to its usual color.

I still feel like defeating Xana was a hollow victory without Lila here too, I'm not entirely sure how I'm getting by without her if I'm being honest.

 _It's a good thing Mary's house is close by. I should really get a move on to get to Mrs. Hertz's class on time,_ I think.

 **Later that afternoon**

 **In Mrs. Hertz's class**

 _At least the end of the year dance coming up in just a few days… I just can't believe this term is almost over. I really wish Lila could be here for this dance… for a lot of things. I wish I could fix-_ I stop myself on that thought.

"Oh, Aelita, you idiot!" I sigh internally, mentally kicking myself for missing the obvious.

Mrs. Hertz looks at me strangely, "Ms. Stones? Is there something wrong?"

"Um… No ma'am, sorry for the outburst," I apologize.

I get a few stares from my friends, Sissi included, while the rest of the class laughs at my sudden statement. I'm grateful Cameron is sitting in the back with William. As roommates, they've most likely gotten along pretty well together from what Jeremy has told me. He still talks to Cameron but most of their conversations are brief. I can't hear any laughter coming from them, I guess they're taking this situation seriously too.

The only other person who isn't laughing is a new girl named Kayori Avalon. She's about five feet and two inches tall and has green eyes. Her skin tone is average, but she has a flexible build to her that suggests some athletic background, perhaps track or gymnastics. She has brown hair that goes down to her shoulder blades and wears a dark blue jacket over a blood red tube top featuring a wolf design. A dark blue short skirt and black ankle-length socks complete her ensemble.

Noticing something I hadn't before, I glance a bit closer at her to see that she's wearing thin chains around her neck. I know Lila only wore one necklace, the one I have… but I can't help but be reminded of her from how similar the chains are. I turn back to Mrs. Hertz's as Kayori doesn't pay much attention to my interruption.

"Everyone settle down now please!" Mrs. Hertz calls. "We need to finish this lesson, so all of you can take your exams this upcoming week. Jim and I will be handing them, and they'll be graded by me as well as my colleagues. They're a big portion of your grade. Jim and I will be supervising you, so be prepared!"

A lot our classmates groan, including Odd. I smile slightly at him, with Sissi being part of the group, and showing her nicer side, he apparently remembered why he was interested in her when they first met. Even though she rejected his playful advances, she was never harsh about it.

Unfortunately, one thing that changed about Odd is that he won't let Kiwi back on campus, and I can't say I blame him after the zombie attack. Though something tells me it has more to do with Lila dying...

 **After class**

 **By the vending machines area**

We're now at the vending machines, and Ulrich gets a drink from one of them as Yumi meets up with us. Though I hated to do it, I asked Jeremy to text everyone to meet here in secret, without Sissi. She really has turned over a new leaf, but this is beyond anything she could understand.

"So, Aelita, what was that about during class?" Jeremy asks.

"It's… it's nothing Jeremy," I reply. "I just remembered something really important."

"Like what?" Odd asks, Ulrich and Yumi watching as well.

I look down slightly, "Well… I still haven't moved on from her, you know? And… I think I need to see Mary."

"Why?" Jeremy asks.

I take the necklace out and show it to the others, "I forgot this was a time machine. It's not limited like the return trip was… You guys, I think I can use it to go back in time and change things."

"No way," Ulrich replies in disbelief. "It only worked for Lila the one time… and besides, what makes you think you could change the time?"

I smile at him, "You'll see, Ulrich, you'll see. Come on, let's go to Mary's."

 **Later**

 **Inside Mary's house**

Yumi, Jeremy, Odd, Ulrich, and I are sitting on the big sofa. My father is on a new chair that is currently is reclined, sipping a cup of tea while Mary sits on the other sofa.

"So what brought all of you here today?" she asks.

"Mary… I was wondering, is… Is this time machine still functional?" I ask, holding the necklace.

Mary frowns, "It was heavily damaged Aelita. The doors came off after the first time-jump; even the holographic screens were damaged. I had to melt the doors a while back, so no one would find them. Why do you ask?"

"If… if I were to go back in time, could I go back say… to the exact day, Lila was shot? And prevent that from ever happening?"

All of us look at her, hopeful.

She sighs, "Even if you do, it won't change our future, Aelita. You'll be changing the course of events, yes, but this future… since it already happened, it won't be erased. When you go back in time, and change the past, you'll simply be redirecting it. There's no telling if time will even be fixed and who knows if the new direction will have a far worse outcome. I would have told this to… to Lila, a while back. But I believe she would have used time travel in a different manner, that's why I had to act as if I didn't have the true knowledge to how time travel works. I even acted as if my memories were corrupted... I hated lying to her. But I did what I had to do because this is the truth about time travel and how it really works."

My father stops sipping his tea and puts it on the saucer resting in the cup holder of the chair's arm.

"I agree with what Mary did. Time travel is risky and tempting, it is reasonable to understand that she lied to Lila in the past. Basically, Aelita, from what Mary has told me and my understanding of it, is that the people in the _new_ version of this timeline won't be you or your friends," he explains. "It won't be the Lila that died that gets to live, but this new outcome will simply branch out differently. It wouldn't be counted as a second timeline because, from what Mary told me, Lila's future was the original timeline. The timeline we're currently in would be the second one. So, think of it as a branch growing off of the second timeline, but still a part of it. From there, Mary is saying that something drastic could occur from such tampering—possibly even making things worse for those Lyoko Warriors and Lila."

"I think I understand," I turn to my friends, "What do you guys think? Should I use the time machine to go back and redirect events?"

Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich nod. Jeremy, however, hesitates.

"I'm not so sure," Jeremy says, fixing his glasses to the bridge of his nose.

"It's still not our Lila. But… I do think Lila deserves to live."

I turn to face Mary again, "Mary… I want you to teach me everything about this time machine. I'll go back, after the end of year dance."

This way… I can at least have some good final memories with my friends in case the wrecked time machine doesn't make it. I'll also need to find the gun Cameron used on Lila… Mary never found it when clearing the physical evidence of Cameron's crime and Lila's existence. But all of this, what I'm going to do… is to save a friend.

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**

 **IN: Chapter 5 of 5 of The Dark Saga**

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 _Author's note: Kayori Avalon is owned by_ **decode9** _. While this is the first time Kayori has made her appearance in Changing Destiny: Lila's Journey!, it will not be the last. However, I cannot accept any further OCs into this fanfiction._

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Don't forget to review!

LyokoWarrior1994


	36. To Save a Friend

**Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is owned by** Moonscoop.

* * *

 _This chapter was written by me and edited by_ **AeroJester203.**

* * *

 _Mary is owned by_ **AeroJester203.** _Cameron is owned by_ **Undeadmonkey8**.

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 _To Save a Friend_

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 **POV Aelita's**

 **In Mary's house**

"Maybe we should wait…" Yumi suggests. "At least until after the end of year dance? Why rush it?"

"That might be for the best," I agree. "So, Mary… what do you think? Should we do this?" I ask her, almost pleading with my brown eyes.

"Aelita…" Mary sighs. She looks at us and sees that we're all content with our decision. "Okay, if you feel you must change time… do it knowing that you may never have the chance to come back to this future. Is that clear?"

"Crystal," I nod.

The others look at me, most of them with concern, but I can tell that Jeremy is dreading this. He gets up from the sofa and makes his way to the front porch. I follow after him.

"Aelita-" Ulrich starts, but I hear Odd interrupt him.

"Don't. Let them talk this out."

 **Outside on the porch**

Jeremy is already standing by the railing of the porch when I open the door, one hand rested on it as he stares at the surroundings. I go to stand next to him.

"Jeremy… are you okay?" I tentatively ask.

He takes off his glasses, and I notice he seems really upset. Is…. Is he crying? I put my hand on his shoulder, and he looks at me. I've never seen his brown eyes like this; they're overflowing with tears. Has he really been holding in this much pain? Jeremy stifles his sobs and fixes his glasses, pushing them to the bridge of his nose.

"Sorry, Aelita, I… I feel responsible. For all of this," he explains.

I put my hand on his shoulder, "Jeremy you didn't kill Lila."

"I did though… by starting that supercomputer…" Jeremy replies with a shake of his head. "I never thought anyone of us would die. I was her father, Aelita… I let my daughter down."

"Jeremy… I've been thinking about this for the past few weeks. About Lila, I… I think I've figured out something, something she and Mary didn't want either of us to know."

"What?" he asks me, puzzled.

"Jeremy… I think I am her mother," I say. "It… it only makes sense. Think about it… She was always overprotective of us. Especially when you told me she punched… What was her name? Taelia?"

 **Flashback**

 **POV Jeremy's**

 **Inside the lab**

 _"What's going on in here?"_ I hear Mr. Delmas asking. I turn in my chair and see the detective from earlier and two of his policemen with Mr. Delmas. At the same time, Lila arrives from the hatch leading to the scanner room below. I know it's her since she was just devirtualized.

 _"I'm sorry, Jeremy… the Bloks got me,"_ she explains. _"And Taelia…"_ At the venomous tone, I glance over my shoulder to see Lila glaring at her as if offended by Taelia's very presence. She flinches, and I can't help but feel like a total idiot. How could I think this person was Aelita?

 _"It was a mistake telling her,"_ Lila says.

Taelia scoffs, as if knowing we can't do anything with the police there,

 _"Whatever."_

 _"From our understanding, you kids decided to unleash some sort of evil into the world,"_ the detective states. _"We're ordering you to shut the computer down."_

I start to protest, but Taelia cuts me off, " _It's just a computer! Big deal, some girl who looks like me is inside of it! She's fake; she's not even real!"_

 _"She's – she's not even real?"_ Lila repeats in a low tone. I can hear the anger bubbling under the surface.

She closes the distance between them in a few quick steps and rears back her fist before slugging Taelia across the face, knocking her back a few steps before she stumbles and manages to catch herself before falling. One of the policemen grabs hold of her before she can do anything more, but she still glares at the redhead. Rubbing her hand against her face, Taelia wipes away a bit of blood from her lip.

 _"See, Mr. Delmas?"_ she exclaims. _"They're dangerous! She just hit me for no reason!"_

Lila growls and struggles to free herself from the officer's hold to attack her again. I am completely stunned by all of this… I've never seen her so enraged before.

 _"Belpois, kill this thing,"_ Mr. Delmas orders. _"You'll have to answer some of our questions at the police station."_

 _"I can't, sir. My friends are still in danger,"_ I reply. _"And Lila… I'm sorry. You were right; I shouldn't have told Taelia."_

 _"It's okay, Jeremy, I get it,"_ she replies after calming a bit. _"You wanted to see Aelita so badly. After all, she's the girl of your dreams, isn't she?"_

I blush a bit and nod.

 **End of Flashback**

 **Back to Aelita's POV**

"Now that makes sense, Aelita… She punched Taelia because she made fun of her parents. But… I thought Lila's mother died of a sickness?" Jeremy asks.

I shake my head, "Maybe that was a lie Jeremy… maybe that's the truth. I'm not really sure."

"Okay… so what do we do now?" he asks while staring at the trees again.

"Do we just sacrifice everything on the hope this time jump works?"

I look at him. "Yeah, I think we have to."

Jeremy turns back to me, "Then… if we're sacrificing everything, Aelita. I guess I should tell you I-"

He starts to say the three words, but I interrupt him giving him a surprise kiss on the lips. The contact only lasts for a few seconds, but Jeremy remains stunned for a moment after I pull away.

"I, uh- I, Aelita- I mean, I, uh-" he stutters while blushing. "You too?"

"Yeah," I nod with a smile.

Jeremy and I then realize we made a mistake when we hear Odd say,

"Finally!"

We turn to the door seeing everyone else gathered in the now open entrance. Our friends and Mary are smiling at us, and my father is giving a stern but approving look. Jeremy and I can't help but smile.

 **A few days later**

 **The night of the end of the year dance**

 **Inside the gymnasium**

Word got around that Jeremy is my date for the dance tonight. But it shouldn't have been that much of a surprise, really.

I'm dressed in a pink gown-like dress and Jeremy is wearing a black three-piece suit and a red bowtie. He thinks they're stylish… and it does look rather nice of him, but I can't say I'm a fan of them. Still, I think he can win me over. All of us are dancing, and we're all dressed up nice. Even Cameron looks normal as he's dancing with Emily. The music starts slowing down for some reason.

 _"We'll be taking things slow now. So for all of those who brought a special someone with you, here's a song to make this a night to remember. And for those who didn't bring a date… get off the floor! Haha, just joking, but seriously give the lovebirds more room, please,"_ Christophe M' Bala, the DJ, requests.

A lot of people go back to the benches, but Sissi and William remain in the crowd with us, as they've been dancing together the whole night. Probably because Yumi and Ulrich finally asked one another out. Maybe came from Jeremy and I kissing; I'm not really sure. Milly and Tamiya are recording the event from afar. Yumi and Ulrich pull each other closer, moving to the slowness of the song along with the rest of the couples.

Jeremy and I awkwardly stand across from each other and can feel the other students' eyes on us. Jim can't help but smile at us, and Jeremy offers his hand. I accept it and he pulls me closer to him so we can dance in each other's arms.

 **Afterwards**

 **In the park**

Back in our regular clothes now, having decided to leave the dance early, I have the time machine necklace safely tucked under my hoodie. My friends and I have decided to search for the gun in the park. We still haven't found it, and the dance surely must have ended by now.

"Anything yet?" Odd calls out.

Ulrich replies, "No, nothing."

"Are you guys looking for this?" a familiar voice asks.

We all whip around to the source and see that it's Cameron. He's… he's holding the gun, and my eyes widen.

"Cameron… what are you doing with a gun?" I ask him, trying to keep to the charade.

He shakes his head, "Oh stop it Aelita. I… I… _remember_."

All of our eyes widen, and Yumi shakes the shock off first.

"But how?" she asks.

"It started a few weeks ago," Cameron explains. "I've been having really bad dreams of her… of Lila. Eventually, my mind put the pieces back together. I guess immunity from the scanners wasn't accounted for when Mary made that return trip to the past."

I slap myself on the head, "Oh, of course! Stupid!"

He puts the gun on the grass beside him, still looking down when he stands up again, "I just have to ask… why? Why let me get away with this?"

I'm about to say something, but Odd speaks up.

"You were a victim, Cameron, for a long time… probably since the night of Aelita's first mix. We never knew until Mary took off your watch. From there it was just about deciding what to do about you, and we voted to do the right thing," he explains.

"Thanks… I, uh, appreciate this. But when the new term rolls around… I won't be back. I don't deserve to be back," Cameron says. "I'd better be getting back to Emily… she's waiting for me to walk her back to her dorm."

I look at him, "You like her?"

"Yeah," he nods morosely. "Shame I'll have to break her heart, though."

"Just….treat her right, while you can."

He nods and simply walks off without saying a word. Going over to the gun, I bend down and pick it up to put it in one of my hoodie's side pockets. I turn to the others.

"So… we're all certain, then?" I ask.

Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, and Jeremy nod in unison.

"I'll explain to Delmas that you decided to leave school to spend time with your family in Canada. Since you were Lila's adopted sister, I'll explain to Delmas it's your 'real' family you'll be spending time with. I'm… I'm really going to miss you Aelita," Jeremy says.

"Me too. I'm going to miss all of you so much." I take the time machine necklace off and press the red button before placing it on the ground. All of us step back as the time machine necklace starts glowing and unfolds into its true form while growing. Eventually, the shining light dies down and all of us see the beaten-up time machine. Stepping into the gap where one of the doors used to be, I sit on the chair.

The others approach as I start up the interface, and the broken hologram screens appear. I start typing in the date where Lila got shot the first time. The coordinates screen must've been broken since I didn't see anything to enter them, but we are already in the park so that hopefully means that it'll lock to the same position in the past.

"If you see Lila… tell her we said hi," Yumi says.

"If I see her, I will," I promise. "I'm going to try my best to fix Cameron… if he lets me."

Ulrich looks down, remembering how Cameron was under Xana's influence on Lyoko, "We can only hope."

I enter the date fully and look at Jeremy, "Jeremy I really am… sorry you know?"

"I know…" he nods solemnly. "Try to get back safe…"

"I'll try," I reply while giving him a slight smile. But something tells me I won't be back.

Odd gives a tentative smile back, "We'll miss you, princess."

"I'll miss you all too," I say.

I strap myself in, the seatbelt being a bit loose since the time machine was meant for Lila's use when she was an adult. I pull the red lever, and the time machine hums while levitating into the air before everything disappears.

 **In the vortex**

I'm traveling in what's called the time vortex. I've been brushing up on time travel theories, and this was one that could never be proven. But here I am traveling through it. It's sort of like a tunnel… but with a blend of different colors blurring at high speeds. My vision, however, starts turning white.

 **Afterwards**

 **In the woods**

Waking up, I gasp. For some reason, I am unable to see. I can still smell the thick ozone emanating from the sparking electronics, though. Even without my sight, I can tell that the time machine is in one piece despite the condition it's in, seeing as how it didn't explode upon arrival. I think back to what Mary said to me just after she told me the mechanics of time travel.

 **Flashback**

 _"One more thing… there are a few side effects to time travel. You may experience the ones I've told you about. Nausea, age regression or increase, loss of sight."_

 _"Loss of sight?"_ I repeat worriedly.

She nods, _"Only temporary. I just hope you don't regress in age… that would be a worst-case scenario."_

 **End of Flashback**

 _Okay, Aelita, just remain calm and your eyesight should restore itself soon,_ I tell myself.

 _That being said… how am I going to take care of Cameron? How should I even convince him to remove the watch or let me get close enough so I can figure out how to short-circuit it? Ugh… If he doesn't give me a choice… I think I'm going to have to kill him. Just breathe, Aelita. Wait for your sight to return._

My vision returns in a few minutes, dim and spotty at first before it clears up as I blink. Opening my eyes, I can see that the time machine is now in much worse condition around me. I unfasten my seatbelt and get out of the chair.

Going to the button on the time machine's underside, I press it. It shrinks down and folds into the treasure chest shape for carrying. I put the time machine necklace on and pull up my hood to be more discreet. I start walking in the direction of the park since it shouldn't be long now. I need to get there before 3:00 pm; that's when he makes his first attempt at killing Lila.

 **At the park**

Hiding in a bush, I see Cameron is walking to the bench with the same gun as before in his hand. He puts it in his pocket and sits down. I watch him for a while from my hiding place as he just sits there muttering to himself.

 _What is he muttering about?_ I wonder. _Is he talking to himself? Is he contemplating his decision? If he is… maybe I can still reach him in time._

I get up from the bush, rustling its leaves as I do so. Keeping my head shadowed, I start walking up to Cameron.

"Who's there?!" Cameron exclaims. I feel his eyes on me.

"Answer me… or else," he threatens. Apparently, for some reason, he can't think straight. My pink hoodie and dark purple jumper dress should make it rather obvious, but I reveal my identity to Cameron anyway, making eye contact as I do so.

His eyes widen, "Ae-Aelita? Is that really you?"

"It is… in a way," I reply. "I'm the Aelita from the future of this current timeline."

"You… you traveled into the past? But why –" Cameron starts to ask me, and I interrupt him.

"Don't bother lying to me Cameron. I know all too well you plan on killing Lila. At least… I know you plan on making your first attempt."

"My first… You mean… I failed the first time?" he asks, expression closing up.

I nod, "Lila survives the first shot, but you crippled her, and then after going AWOL you eventually finish the job… You kill Lila, Cameron."

Cameron's eyes widen, and he looks sadden to hear the news.

"I've been trying hard to fight his will. But he's too powerful."

"Cameron, I know it's the chip that's controlling you," I reply. "All we need to do is deliver a short electrical shock into the watch, and it'll fall off. We can free you."

Cameron lurches back as his whole body starts trembling, "How… did you find that out?"

"Mary figured it out in the future. Please… I can help," I say while taking a step closer.

"Stay away from me!" he shouts while getting up quickly with his hand still in his pocket.

Using my own hand, I start trying to grab the small gun that's in my pocket. Cameron catches on, and draws his own as I fumble for mine. We both aim our guns at each other, but my hand is shaking while his is held steady. I thought I'd be up to this challenge, but now that I'm here… I'm terrified.

"You won't do it," Cameron says. "No matter what happens here, the future will still stay the same. You can't change destiny."

"I can, and I will. I'm a different Aelita than the one you currently know. Please don't make me do this, Cameron. I can help," I plead.

" _No_ … just stay away!" he demands.

Cameron puts his finger on the trigger, and I do the same for mine. Thankfully the safety is still off on my gun.

"You have a choice here, Cameron. There's always another choice!" I try to reason.

"Not this time Aelita," Cameron replies.

My hand continues shaking and I try to aim the gun to his head as I can feel he's aiming at mine. But I'm not going to make it in time with my hand shaking so much. If I don't shoot first, then this entire attempt to save Lila will be for nothing.

"Cameron, last chance. Don't. Please don't make me do this," I urge, trying to sound surer than I am. But I'm starting to cry since I'll either have to live with taking a life or die having achieved nothing.

Ignoring my bluff, Cameron fully pulls the trigger. I try to aim my hand a little higher as I pull the trigger a split-second after him. But he had ducked towards the ground immediately after firing. I have no time to react as I'm hit by the bullet.

 **Afterwards…**

 **POV Lila's**

Making my way toward the park, I look at the time on my cell phone, seeing that the time is 2:59 PM. I hear two very loud bangs overlapping each other.

"What was that?" I wonder. "They sounded like… No they couldn't have been! God, Cameron, please be alright!"

I start running to the direction of the gunshots. Reaching the park, I see two people on the ground. One of them is wearing a familiar pink hoodie with her head largely covered.

"Oh my- Oh my God! Mom…?! Mom!" I cry out.

Seeing Aelita's vacant face with a bullet wound still fresh before I know what I'm doing, I run to her and get on one knee beside her. I lay my hands on her face, away from the still running blood. I can't help it, though—my eyes drift back to her wound.

One cold comfort is that it's a clean shot to the end with no brain matter. Her face…her eyes… her eyes are still wide open… and I notice her brown eyes. They seem more… more depressed. I just left Aelita in our room… she seemed happy.

She is cold and growing colder… I feel cold too, and hollow. How could…Why? I have to… It's almost too much, but I have to do it. I gently bring a hand to her face and wipe her tears away… and then close her eyes for her.

And then I just cry hot, disgusting tears, cradling her head closer.

I can't believe it… my mom's gone. I turn to the second body on the ground and I realize it's Cameron. Going over to him, I see a gun in his hand and my eyes widen in surprise. He seems to be knocked out… or lying in wait for a trap.

Hoping it's not the latter I quickly take the gun away from his hand by sliding it out carefully and throwing it to the side. I then turn Cameron's body to see his face, and… he's okay. I sigh in relief before growling since it seemed he was responsible for my mother's death. I want answers. When I grab him and yank him so that he's half sitting up, he immediately starts rousing.

"What happened here? You need to wake up and tell me what happened!" I demand, forcefully shaking him.

"Lila?! What – are – you – doing?!" Cameron exclaims, his speech staggered by the shaking.

"Look what you've done! You've killed Aelita!" I exclaim at him, pointing over to her body. He seems to know what he's done and looks away.

"It's not Aelita…."

"But… it clearly is! Don't make excuses!" I raise a fist in rage, about to strike him for telling such a transparent lie.

"Look closely," he tells me before I can follow through.

Pushing him to the ground, I go over to Aelita's body. Trying to move past the fact that I'm handling her corpse, I examine her… and my eyes zero in on a chain around the back of her neck. Could it be…? I lift her head up lightly, trying not to look at her face, and I carefully lower her hood and take the necklace off. Gently putting her head back down, my eyes widen in shock.

"My time machine necklace?! But then…"

If… if I'm lucky… I quickly take out my mobile cell phone and call Aelita on speed dial. The phone rings and someone picks up on the other end. I carefully watch Cameron on the ground, making sure he doesn't try to go for the gun.

 _"Lila? Is everything okay?"_ Aelita asks through the phone. I sigh internally with relief before looking at the Aelita who was shot…

 _She must be from the future,_ I realize.

"No… um, it's not," I unsteadily reply before collecting myself. "Look, there's trouble. It's not Xana; we dealt with him three times today and that's enough. There's this _other_ issue at the park… Just get the others and meet me here."

"Tell the others to bring restraints for me…" Cameron adds. "I'm starting to lose my will again."

I regard him for a moment before continuing, "And bring restraints—anything that can hold a person down. Tell Odd and Ulrich; they'll know what to get."

 _"Um… okay,"_ Aelita says.

 **Later**

Aelita, Odd, Ulrich, Jeremy, and Yumi run over to me. They gasp at the sight of the future Aelita's dead body. I glance over to Cameron as Odd and Ulrich get to work at tying him up with the rope they brought. Thankfully he has enough free will left so he doesn't fight back.

"What– what happened here?" Jeremy asks. He kneels down next to future Aelita.

"I can… explain," Cameron says haltingly. "This Aelita… she's from the future. She tried to stop me… from killing Lila…"

"Huh?!" all of us exclaim, including me.

He shakes his head clear as if suppressing whatever the problem was, before continuing, "That's why she came here, Lila—to prevent me from shooting you this time. Apparently, I succeeded in crippling you in the future before finishing you later, and she traveled back in time to change events. She saved your life… and she tried to kill me too. Can't say I blame her. But… she was scared, terrified even. Her hand was shaking so much, she just barely missed me. I think I briefly passed out from shock, though. But look… before she died, she figured out a way to save me."

"Save you?" Odd asks. "From what?"

"A chip. A chip Xana installed inside the watch… he put me under possession the night of Aelita's first mix," Cameron explains.

Jeremy's eyes narrow, "Impossible! Even if he did… the scanners would have detected the chip as a foreign object during your virtualization process!"

"Xana figured a way around it. Not sure how… but he did," Cameron ground out, appearing to strain in getting the words out. "Listen, I don't have much time left… Xana keeps making me forget things. He keeps erasing my memories so that I can… fully focus on one goal, killing Lila. But look… the future Aelita told me that if you deliver a short electrical shock to my watch, it'll short circuit and fall off."

"An electrical shock huh?" Jeremy cautiously repeated. "There's this one program I've been working on that could do the trick… but it's not ready yet! I'd have to put a rush on it, and what about the other Aelita's body? We can't just leave her here!"

"Just knock me out and restrain me at the lab!" Cameron demands while hunched over. His face is scrunched in pain as Aelita and I look at him in shock. Ulrich goes over to him and clasps his hands together in a double-handed fist.

"Now, Cameron, this will hurt you more than it will us," he says as he strikes him over the back of the head and knocks Cameron to the ground.

Yumi looks at him before turning back to us, "Now what do we do?"

"We have to get future Aelita's body to the only safe place I can think of…" I state. The others look at me as I continue, "The digital sea."

"That would work… Where's the necklace my future self had?" Aelita asks.

"I have it," I reply. "I've just got my jacket zipped up right now because I don't want people to see me wearing both at the same time. If they ask to see the second one… they'll find it very strange that I have two identical heirlooms and might start asking questions we don't want them to ask. Ulrich and Yumi, you two take care of the guns. There's a bullet around here somewhere so you may want to find that too. I'll carry Aelita's body to the factory. I don't want to do it… but I don't want you guys dealing with this kind of burden."

"Okay… then Aelita and I will carry Cameron to the factory," Jeremy says.

"Right."

"We'll call you when we're done with the guns. And the bullet. Any idea as to the direction where it went?" Yumi says.

I sigh, "Not sure… but let's just get this over with."

"Okay, we'll get to the lab as soon as we find the bullet and have taken care of the guns," Ulrich says.

"Right," I nod.

 **Lyoko's Forest Sector**

Having left Cameron in the lab, Jeremy is currently working on a new program of his, one that he says that can create his own spectre by activating a tower on Lyoko. Once he does this, he'll have one of us possessed – or "Jeremified," as Odd jokingly calls it – to use the spectre to give one of us the ability to short-circuit Cameron's watch. That must have been one strong hit Ulrich gave to Cameron because he's still knocked out.

Odd, Aelita, and I are currently on our vehicles. I'm flying Yumi's Overwing, the future Aelita's body resting behind me. The Aelita I know is using my broomstick. We soon reach the end of the sector and touch down on the ground, stepping off of our vehicles. Carrying her body over my shoulders to the edge, Odd and Aelita follow behind me.

"Um… should we say any words?" he asks.

"I can say we won't allow her sacrifice to be in vain," I vow. "She saved me… and she saved Cameron. We're forever in her debt."

Aelita nods. It must be awkward attending your own funeral…

"I'll add one more thing… If it weren't for her, I wouldn't be able to keep having these new adventures with you guys. I guess now… we should probably let her rest in peace," I say.

I use my magic to create a block of ice, laying the future Aelita's body atop it. Odd helps me push it onto the digital sea.

We stare at the block of ice as it begins to crumble from the digital sea eroding it. A spiraling pillar of energy comes out from the data, evaporating future Aelita's body.

"Are Ulrich and Yumi back yet?" Aelita asks, trying her best to be strong.

Jeremy replies, _"Yeah, they are, and they've taken care of the guns. As well as the bullet, it seems they had found it. I'm grateful there wasn't blood at the crime scene... otherwise, I'm not sure what we would have done. The program is almost ready. Do any of you want to volunteer?"_

"I'll… I'll do it," I answer. Odd puts his hand on my shoulder, and I look at him in surprise.

"No I'll do it," he says. "You've done enough as it is, Lila."

"Thank you, Odd," I say. _You're really a good friend… I hope you know that._

 _"Okay, Odd. I'll start your materialization so I can bring you in and have my spectre possess you. Lila, can you bring Aelita to a way tower? There's one southwest of your position."_

I turn to my broomstick that is still hovering nearby, "Right, let's go Aelita." I get on the broomstick and Aelita mounts it behind me, her arms wrapped around my waist. Jeremy dematerializes Yumi's Overwing.

 _"Materialization: Odd."_

Odd vanishes from Lyoko, and I kick my broomstick into the air.

 **Afterwards**

I watch Aelita enter the tower's "doorway." I smile slightly.

 _Now to save Cameron…_

 **Inside the lab**

Aelita, Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, and I look at Cameron who is laid against the holosphere's podium, making sure he stays down while Jeremy types.

"Activating tower… now!" he exclaims, and I see him press the enter button on the keyboard.

For a few seconds nothing happens, but then a black smoke figure similar to Xana's spectre emerges out of the computer and goes to Odd. His body seems to flicker as it sinks into his chest and envelops him, turning him grey and black for a moment, but then color starts coming back into him.

Ulrich takes a step closer and tentatively asks, "How do you feel, Odd?"

 **"Electrified,"** Odd says, his voice reverberating due to possession. He goes to Cameron's body and snaps the ropes off of him with a seemingly casual tug, beaming slightly at the enhanced strength. He then grabs the unconscious boy's wrist that had the watch on it and began channeling purple electricity. Odd kneels down on the floor and directs the energy to go into the watch almost instinctively.

The watch starts sparking and falls off Cameron's hand. Going over to it, I look at the clock of the watch. Something pushes me to open it, and I remove the face from the accessory. Eyes widening, I turn to show the insides to the others, revealing the out of place microchip.

"That's the chip… So he really was telling the truth," Yumi says.

I nod and pull the chip out of the watch before throwing it to the ground and crushing it with my shoe. With that done, I close Cameron's watch again.

"And… deactivating tower," Jeremy announces, pressing the keys to do so.

The spectre leaves Odd's body before fading away, and he almost falls to the ground, but Ulrich and Yumi catch him just in time.

"Gotcha, good buddy. You okay? Say something," Ulrich says to Odd whose eyes are closed.

He wakes up shortly after and looks at Ulrich with a half-grin, "Something."

"Dork," Yumi scoffs. They help Odd up and we look at Aelita. She's been awfully quiet and is staring at the floor.

"You okay, Aelita?" Jeremy asks.

She looks up at us in slight surprise and replies, "I'll be fine. It's– it's just a lot to process."

We start hearing Cameron groan as he wakes up.

"Ugh… why do I feel like someone used me as a puppet?" he mutters.

Going over to him, I squat down to be at his level, "Good to see you again Cameron."

"Did… I go somewhere or something?" Cameron asks.

"A lot's happened Cameron… too much in fact," Jeremy says gravely. "This might seem rather sudden… but we think it might be best for you to leave school."

Cameron looks at Jeremy in shock, then notices I'm still holding his adopted father's watch. He also spots the broken pieces of the chip still scattered on the ground.

"What… what on earth happened here?" he asks while getting up. "And can I have my dad's watch back, please?"

"Here you go," I smile slightly and give him the watch back. He puts it on the same wrist he had it on before.

Aelita sighs, "You really don't want to know what happened here Cameron. But like Jeremy said… I think it's best if you left our group and the school. Spend some time with your family."

"If you're all certain…" Cameron trails off. "But what about you, Lila? I mean I always wanted to ask you to your favorite coffee place…"

"First off Cameron I drink tea, not coffee," I say.

He looks down to the floor a bit. Poor guy… he's been through so much and he'll never remember it. I can't hate him for something he had no control over… right? I mean what sort of person would I be if I did?

"But… I'll make an exception for you. This one time," I smile at him.

He looks up at me and smiles, "Thanks."

 _This part of our lives… this dark saga so to speak… I hope it's all over,_ I think. _The future Aelita prevented something horrible from happening. She gave me a chance to live. She gave Cameron a chance to live._

The memory of her corpse appears in my mind's eye and I think back to when she must have been alive.

 _I'm so grateful to you… and I won't fail you. I promise, I'm going to get my revenge on Xana. For everything he did to you in the future. I can't thank you enough for your sacrifice… I'm going to make you proud, mom. I promise!_ I internally vow.

The end...

* * *

 **Changing Destiny: Lila's Journey! Will return in…**

 _New Adventures: A Bad Turn_

* * *

Author's note: We will now be returning to a much lighter season for the second half of Changing Destiny: Lila's Journey. This second half is going to be a lot more fun to read and will return to the fanfiction's usual T rating. However, the fanfiction will remain at M.

Author's Note: The scanner detected the chip in the bad future where Aelita came from because Xana was dead. Since he's still alive in the second branch of the timeline, the chip wouldn't have been able to be detected by the scanner.

Author's Note: The girl of his dreams chapter flashback was retconned just a bit. Unfortunately, I haven't gone back yet to update the chapter, but I will. Please do not consider it a continuity error.

* * *

To Undeadmonkey8, I felt guilty for the original plans I had for Cameron that you knew of. I hope you liked this new narrative as much as I did. Should I ever need Cameron again, I'll be requesting him from you in the future! And to my readers, I can't stress enough how good Code: Cameron is! It takes a new turn on having an OC in the Code Lyoko series. You'll surely enjoy it!

* * *

Changing Destiny: Lila's Journey! Will return in 2019! Until then, don't forget to review!

LyokoWarrior1994


	37. New Adventures: A Bad Turn

**Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is owned by MoonScoop.**

* * *

 _This chapter was written by me. It was edited by_ **AwesomeFanFictionAuthor** _and_ **Discordant Night.**

* * *

Author's Note: First off, please let me apologize for my absence. Life got in the way, as things have been getting busy for everyone. I wanted to update this chapter a while back, so it's been on a hiatus longer than I wanted to. Like I said, life got busy.

Second: Happy Valentine's Day everyone! To my old readers and new, this is a special chapter just for you! (Rhyme intended, ha.) But in all seriousness, have a safe and enjoyable Valentine's day if you celebrate it.

If you don't celebrate it, then enjoy the chapter! I'm hoping to return to our regular 1-2-week schedule for the updates. So expect Attack of the Zombies to be released within that time frame. Onward with the chapter!

* * *

 _New Adventures: A Bad Turn_

* * *

 **Inside Lila and Aelita's room**

 **POV Lila's**

 _Dear Diary, it's been a few weeks since Cameron left school. Our coffee date went just about as well as it could have. Given that I didn't actually have coffee, we merely talked while he sipped his own. Cameron did mention something though… He told me he's been having nightmares. Of killing future Aelita._

 _For some reason, he seems to be remembering what the chip made him do. I told him that they must have been just bad dreams and not to worry about them. Aelita is clearly alive, so he didn't kill anybody. He didn't seem so sure but decided it was best not to push for answers he didn't want to know._

 _After we said our goodbyes he promised to write to Jeremy, Emily, and I, as well as a few other of his peers once he got back to America. I'm glad he's okay, honestly._

 _Xana's chip really messed with him. The chips that affected Aelita and I were functionally different than Cameron's chip but looked identical. It was still scary to see him fight against Xana's will. And Cameron won, in a way. If he didn't relay to us what future Aelita said to him, we most likely would have never been able to save him. It's a good thing his chip effectively erased his memories._

 _I can't imagine the difficulty he must have had before his memories were erased. He must have had enough free will of his own to understand what he was doing, to try and fight Xana's will, but at the same time not enough to actually make THAT much of a difference. I feel terrible._

 _And… I feel terrible for Aelita. She's been having nightmares of her own. I try to calm her down, and I try to get her to tell me what kind of nightmares she's been having. It involves Cameron. That's all she'll say._

 _I can't help but wonder if she is experiencing her future self's death in her nightmares, because of what Cameron did. I mean… she experienced her own funeral. I can't imagine what she must be going through. I hope she'll get better soon. I'm concerned._

 _I should get going. Today, I found out there's going to be some sort of car driving exercise. I need to talk to Delmas about being excused from it. As essential as driving is for a young teen, I'm not sure that I'm ready for it. I have anxiety problems. And fainting problems. Now, those problems haven't happened in a while, but putting a girl like myself behind a wheel with those problems… is just asking for an accident to happen. Anyways I should get going._

 _Lila._

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside Principal Delmas's office**

Mr. Delmas offers me a chair as I sit in it. Thankfully I had put my headphones and music pod away in my backpack, before entering his office. I didn't want to seem rude or anything.

"Ms. Smith, my secretary Nicole, has told me you have some concerns regarding the driving exercise that is planned for today?" Mr. Delmas asks.

"I do sir. Given my medical history, I think it's best that I not attend the exercise today," I reply.

Mr. Delmas folds his hands,

"I see… I see. Well Ms. Smith, I'd be more than willing to let you sit out of today's exercise and study in the library. However, when you first arrived here your mother Mrs. Smith, did not give us your medical records. And, when Miss Stones arrived here, we did not receive the proper adoption papers between you and Miss Stones. Nor did we receive the Miss Stones' prior medical history."

"Ah… well, there's a perfectly good reason for that sir," I say.

"Yes, Ms. Smith?"

"You see sir…. Right after my mother adopted Aelita, she had to take off on another business trip. She works for this company, and she travels often on their behalf. I'm not entirely sure what she does exactly for them, but she didn't have the time to send those files," I lie.

 _I can't exactly tell him Mary is stuck inside the head of a giant virtual jellyfish, now can I? Hopefully, he'll buy this excuse,_ I think.

"I believe I can understand your mother's position. If I may ask, is there a way of contacting your father and have him send the details? If I'm not mistaken, your mother was divorced, was she not?" Mr. Delmas asks.

"She was," I nod. "But unfortunately my father and mother do not speak with each other unless it's about child support."

Mr. Delmas rubs his chin.

"I see…. I see. Well then, _if_ you can get into contact with your mother and ask her to forward yours and Miss Stones information, before the end of the day, then I see no reason why I would deny your request."

"Thank you Principal Delmas. If I might ask, could I be excused from certain gym activities too?" I ask.

"Such as?" Mr. Delmas asks.

"Well sir, I'm not very big on rock climbing. Should I get anxiety and fall because I'm overwhelmed with anxiety… it wouldn't be good. And, um more embarrassingly… I uh don't know how to swim," I admit.

Mr. Delmas nods.

"I see, I see. Ms. Smith if I might ask… did you receive a diagnosis from a doctor, concerning your anxiety and fainting spells that you have had in the past?"

"No, sir. The doctors weren't able to find anything," I reply.

"Right. Very well then Ms. Smith. I'll accept your request to be excused from certain gym activities that could be too stressful for you once you are able to contact your mother and have her send me the necessary documents. When you are ready, I'll have Jim escort you to the library," Mr. Delmas says.

"Thank you, sir. I just need to grab something from my room first."

"Very well then Ms. Smith," Mr. Delmas nods.

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside Lila and Aelita's room**

Opening the door, I close it behind me as I run over to my desk. Reaching it, I open the second drawer where both the copy of my father's laptop is and MB's laptop. Grabbing my father's laptop, I take it and close the drawer. Kneeling down, I unzip my backpack and place it in there. I zip up my backpack and shoulder it onto me. Adjusting the straps, I turn to the door and make my way to meet Jim in the courtyard.

 **In the courtyard**

Reaching the courtyard, I see Jim. Acknowledging me, I walk over to him.

"Hey, Jim. Principal Delmas says you'll be escorting me to the library? Is now a good time?" I ask him. He nods.

"Sure thing Smith. Just be sure to not cause any ruckus while you're there," Jim replies.

"Of course sir. I won't," I say. Jim nods. He and I start making our way to the library.

 **Afterwards**

Jim had left me to attend the driving lesson. There are a few other students in here, including Milly and Tamiya since they're a bit too young to drive. She seems to be reading a familiar book, one I haven't picked up in a while.

I type on the copy of my father's laptop and start creating my fake medical history.

The necessary documents are easily created within a half hour, and from there I start on the papers for Aelita and me.

Mine is easily created since Mary had hacked the government a while back when she created a false birthday and social security number. I simply enter the information I remember.

Aelita's birth certificate is a bit difficult to do since I have no idea what Aelita's birthday is.

I know at the very least, that Aelita is older than Jeremy by a few months. And, since his birthday is April 13th, 1994, that would mean I'd need to make Aelita's birthday a few months before Jeremy's.

 _Hmm… I wonder if I should make Aelita's birthday in January? But when… January 15th? Sounds like a good date. That should be good enough,_ I think.

I type at a steady pace, so I don't arouse suspicion and enter Aelita's fake birthday. January 15th, 1994. Since we're in 2007 now, this should add up correctly. I get to work on creating her false birthplace in Canada, and then her own social insurance number.

Once I get this information completed, I put all of this information on Aelita's fake adoption paper.

 _That should be good for now. Hopefully, Delmas won't backtrack this information,_ I think.

 **Later**

I quickly create a fake email account for Mary and send the information to Mr. Delmas. I save my work and close the laptop.

"No way! I can't believe it, he's really-" Milly starts to say but is shushed by Tamiya.

"Milly! Shush! You're going to spoil it for others, and you'll get us into trouble with Jim if people complain. He might not be here right now, but someone will say something," Tamiya says.

I slip the copy of my father's laptop back into my backpack and zip it up, then walk over to Milly and Tamiya. There's an open seat next to them.

"Is this seat taken?" I ask. Milly and Tamiya look at me.

"No, go ahead," Milly replies. I sit down and place my backpack on the table. I look at the book Milly places on the table. _Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire_ it reads.

"I haven't gotten to that book yet, you know. Last time I read the series, I was on book three," I mention.

"Oh, sorry! I'll try to be careful on spoilers then," Milly says.

"Thanks. I'm not too fond of spoilers," I say. My phone starts vibrating. Looking at the screen, I see that It's Jeremy. Of course, I answer.

" _Lila, good, you've answered! Listen, Xana's launched an attack. We don't know what yet, but, Aelita, Odd, and I are on our way to the factory. Meet us there."_

"Okay, I will, see you soon," I say, and hang up. I look at Milly and Tamiya.

"Listen, um, you two better stay here if anything weird starts happening outside, okay?" I ask, warning them.

"Um… alright but why?" Milly asks.

"Just… trust me," I reply.

Milly and Tamiya look at each other confused.

"And if you can, do you mind watching my backpack for me please?" I ask. They nod. I take my backpack off and put it on the chair. I then make my way out of the library.

 **On the bridge**

Running on the bridge, I see Jeremy, Aelita, and Odd already just inside the Factory. They're… looking down at something? Odd turns to Jeremy, saying… something. I'm not really quite sure what. He then gets up, starts backing up, and shouts, loud enough for me to hear:

"BONZAI! He runs off the upper level and jumps below. Apparently Odd ran fast enough to create a breeze, because Jeremy's hair is a mess, and his glasses are crooked.

 **Inside the factory**

I run over to Jeremy and Aelita. Now I can see what they were looking at. It looks like one of them drew some circles and letters and lines in the dirt? They seem relieved to hear me, and just as I'm about to say something, a laser pops out of nowhere.

"Hey, over here! Come on! What are you waiting for? An invitation?" Odd taunts. I look down into the actual Factory for the first time. There's… are two Krabs down there. Two real, live Krabs…

"Get into the elevator, I'm coming!" Odd starts running the opposite direction, as he lures the Krabs away from the freight elevator.

Jeremy, Aelita, and I nod at each other. We back up and make a run for it as we swing down and land on the floor of the factory. The Krabs continues pursuing Odd. At the last minute, Odd turns on a dime and starts running for the elevator.

Jeremy, Aelita, and I run into the freight elevator. I press the red button, and the freight elevator's hanger door starts closing.

"Come on Odd, hurry up!" I exclaim. It continues to close as I hear a laser being fired off, and just as it's more than halfway closed, Odd rolls under the freight elevator door. The hanger door closes, and the freight elevator brings us down.

"Nice timing," I compliment as I offer my hand and help him up.

"Thanks. Xana's really got it in for us this time," Odd says.

"That's for sure. The sooner we deactivate the tower, the better," Jeremy says.

"I'm just glad you got here in time, Lila," Aelita says, smiling slightly.

"Thanks, Aelita," I say. She looks concerned about something. Whether it's the nightmares or the Krabs or something else entirely, I'm not really sure.

 **Inside the lab**

The freight elevator's doors open, and Jeremy walks out into the lab. Putting his hand in his pocket, he looks at us.

"Get to the scanner room, I'll start the virtualization process."

"Right," I nod. I press the red button and the freight elevator's doors close. The freight elevator brings us down to the scanner room.

 **Inside the scanner room**

The freight elevator's doors open. Aelita, Odd, and I are shocked by what we see. One of the scanners, the middle one, looks like it exploded. The wires are all over the place. Is this what happens when a scanner tries to materialize something bigger than itself?

" _Are the three of you there? Is everything okay? Odd? Lila?"_ Jeremy asks.

"Um yeah but we've got a little problem," Odd answers, as the three of us start walking carefully over the cables.

"Our friends Mr. Krab has busted one of the scanners. Two of the scanners look like they're okay. I guess both of the Krabs materialized inside the middle scanner, one after the other, which explains the mess…" Odd trails off.

"It looks fishy Jeremy. Xana could have easily sent the second Krab into a different scanner, I'm not sure why he didn't just do that…" I trail off.

Aelita stops walking to one of the functioning scanners and looks at me.

"Maybe it's a trap. How do we know which one to use?" Aelita asks.

" _I have no idea. If it's a trap – and this is Xana we're talking about so most likely it is, one of you will need to go inside the scanner at the same time as the other. I have a feeling if I let the three of you take turns, we may not get this chance again to virtualize Lila and Odd."_

"Right okay…. So how do we choose?" Odd asks.

"Aelita needs to deactivate the tower, and with my ice powers, I can freeze any monsters for either 30 seconds, or 40 if there's a tarantula. And if we run into the Scyphozoa, it would be 40 seconds I can use to try and free Mary. That is if I see the Scyphozoa I mean. So I think I should be the one to go," I reply.

"Right… well, you go then. Oh, and Princess, good luck," Odd smiles. Aelita looks at Odd.

"Thanks, Odd. You haven't called me that in a while," she mentions.

"I know, but I mean it. Good luck, and you too Lila," Odd says.

"Thanks!" I exclaim.

Aelita and I look at each other and nod. I take the one on the right, and Aelita takes the one in the middle.

" _I'll start the transfers,"_ Jeremy informs. Odd steps over some of the cables as he looks at me and waves goodbye, just as the scanner doors close.

I close my eyes.

" _Transfer: Lila, Transfer: Aelita."_ The scanner starts to spin.

" _Scanner: Lila, Scanner: Aelita,"_ The scanner continues to spin and starts humming.

" _Virtualization!"_

A bright light and wind engulfs the scanner, and I'm virtualized to Lyoko.

 **Lyoko's Mountain Sector**

Opening my eyes, I see Aelita and I are falling. We soon safely land down on the ground in a crouch position. Aelita looks at me and I look at myself to see that my time machine necklace has changed from a teardrop amulet with a blue gem inside of it, and is now a yellow lightning bolt for some reason.

My outfit is now a magenta dress that reaches down to my knees and hangs loosely over my hips and upper legs with a metal breastplate over the bodice. On the sides of the skirt are linked metal plates of armor curving around my outer thighs while leaving the front and back as fabric. Metallic boots cover my feet up to my shins with maroon leggings visible over my exposed knees beneath my dress. The shoulders of my outfit are puffed up slightly and extend down my arms in sleeves that disappear into metal gauntlets covering my forearms up to the elbow.

Using my hand, I grab my bow which is still attached to a hook, and the quiver is still attached to me like how it was with my other outfit. As I get a feel of the bow, I can tell that something is different about it. Using both of my hands, I then check my hair. My hair is now just as long as it is in the real world, minus the split ends on both sides of the hair.

"It's weird that your outfit changes a lot," Aelita comments.

I nod.

"I know. I look like some sort of maiden knight."

" _I'm materializing the Overboard and broomstick for the both of you. Aelita you'll need to get to the activated tower fast and Lila will need to be able to protect you in case of any monsters. Odd I'm going to transfer you-"_ Jeremy starts to say as the Overboard is materialized and a weird feedback interrupts him.

Aelita and I look up at the sky.

"Jeremy?" we ask. For some reason, Jeremy doesn't answer, and I look to Aelita.

"Let's get going. You take the ground and I'll take the air."

"Okay, but how do you plan to cover me? You'll need time to shoot arrows," Aelita comments.

"You're right, hmm…" I trail off. Looking for any other weapon, I feel something popping out from my back. Turning to it, it's a hilt of what looks like a sword that was in a hidden sleeve in the quiver. Grabbing it, I see that it's actually a short hunter's knife.

"Will this do?" I ask.

"Yes, let's get going," Aelita replies. Aelita runs to the overboard and steps on it. I run to my broomstick and get on it. Aelita takes off and I kick my broomstick into the air. Guiding it into the air, I urge it to fly faster higher while maintaining a closed position to Aelita as she rides the Overboard. We pass the mountainous path we're on, and make a turn when:

" _Sorry about that you two. The tower is fifty degrees more to the west."_

Making that turn, the two of us start driving along a windy path.

"Got it, but what happened to Odd Jeremy?" Aelita asks.

" _Xana materialized a third Krab which then destroyed the remaining scanners. Odd escaped into the freight elevator and is now on his way up to create a distraction with the third Krab and the two that are still in the factory. It seems Xana got what he wanted… to trap you on Lyoko with Lila. All scanners are offline so Aelita, Lila, please be careful."_

"We will," I say.

Not seeing any monsters ahead, Aelita starts singing and using her creativity, she creates curved walls on the side of the path.

She uses the Overboard and skates up to onto the wall. I decide to play along and drive my broomstick faster, making it almost a little race out of it. Aelita smiles at me and she lets go of the Overboard much to my surprise, letting it fly under her.

I'm about to go and save her when she quickly catches it, flips it around, and lands on top of the wall.

My eyes widen in surprise as she uses a technique called grinding.

"Odd would be proud!" I exclaim, trying to catch up with her on my broomstick.

"I know! I'm a fast learner!" Aelita exclaims back. She runs out of the wall and jumps back onto the path. I catch up with her as I fly down next to her.

" _Aelita! Lila! Behind you! A squadron of four Hornets!"_

"Take cover, I'll handle this," I say. Aelita nods and flies the Overboard directly ahead. She sings again and I turn my broomstick to the four Hornets.

Taking my hunter's knife from its sleeve, the four Hornets start charging their lasers.

Gripping my hunter's knife, I think:

 _Okay… I've got a lightning bolt, which means theoretically I should have electricity powers. So… how do I activate them? Let's see, if I can focus my electricity powers to the gauntlets then I'll be able to send it out to the hunter's knife. Yeah, that should work!_ I think.

Focusing my powers, I try my very best to let them flow through me. My lightning bolt starts glowing and a surge of yellow electricity engulfs my gauntlets. I then concentrate my yellow electricity to the hunter's knife itself, and the hunter's knife is engulfed with yellow electricity.

The Hornets fire off their lasers just as my hunter's knife is ready. I quickly reflect the lasers back in their directions. Thanks to the added boost from my electricity powers, the lasers move in a fast pace which doesn't give the Hornets enough time to react. Their own lasers destroy them one by one.

Smiling I disperse the yellow electricity by losing my focus, and I put my hunter's knife back in its sleeve. Looking to see where Aelita went to, I see she had created a small rock like structure to hide under.

"Aelita, they're taken care of!" I call out. Aelita dematerializes her creation and looks to me.

"Nicely done! Let's get going!" Aelita exclaims.

I nod. Aelita gets back on the Overboard and I urge my broomstick to catch up with her.

 **Afterwards**

Aelita and I stop our vehicles at a cliff just outside the tower. There's a big open area by the tower, a cave to the side and no monsters in sight.

"Sheesh, could Xana be a bit more obvious?" I ask Aelita.

She nods.

"I know right? We need to cause a distraction because I have a funny feeling that the Scyphozoa is waiting for one of us in that cave." Looking at the cave again, we peek at it and see that there is the Scyphozoa is there, along with a Tarantula.

I turn to Aelita and ask:

"Well… what if I'm the distraction?" Aelita looks at me, eyes widen.

"What? You'll let the Scyphozoa capture you? But I can simply create a clone."

I nod.

"I know you can, but I need to see if I can try and defeat it with these new powers. At the very least, I'll end up talking to Mary and besides I do have a few questions to ask her."

"No way, it's too risky! I'm creating the clone," Aelita decides. Aelita sings softly, creating a clone of herself. She sends it to the into the cave. The Scyphozoa has taken the bait.

" _Aelita!"_ From our side, we're able to see the Scyphozoa take hold of the other Aelita. Its tentacles lifter clone Aelita into the air. Since it's only an image, the clone falls through the Scyphozoa's grasp.

Aelita smiles and goes over to the Scyphozoa and the Tarantula that are protecting the clone.

I watch Aelita make the clone disappear. She winks at the Scyphozoa and Tarantula and makes a run for the tower. Sighing in relief, I turn to let the cliff cover me fully.

" _Aelita, Lila, never do that again!"_ Jeremy exclaims.

"Sorry, Jeremy. But Aelita and I had to make it believable right?" I ask him.

" _I suppose…"_ Jeremy grumbles. Looking to my right, I see that the tower's aura turns from red to blue.

" _Return to the past now!"_ Jeremy exclaims.

 _Hopefully, the Krabs didn't cause too much damage on Earth. I hope everyone's okay…_ I think.

 **Afterwards**

 **Back inside the library**

I realize I'm back inside the library, and I'm about to take a seat next to Milly and Tamiya.

 _Thank goodness… I don't have to create all of that information again,_ I think.

Walking to the empty seat, I ask:

"Is this seat taken?" Milly and Tamiya look at me.

"No, go ahead," Milly replies. I sit down and look at Milly.

"I haven't gotten to that book, yet you know. Last time I read the series, I was on book three," I mention.

"Oh sorry! I'll try to be careful on spoilers then," Milly says.

"Thanks. I'm not too fond of spoilers," I say. Milly, Tamiya, and I start talking about the previous three books of _Harry Potter_.

 **Later at night**

 **Inside Lila and Aelita's room**

I'm writing down another entry in my diary since today was rather relaxing with classes being canceled because of that driving test.

 _Dear Diary,_

 _Everything turned out okay in the end. There's something I didn't mention to you in my first entry. Can you keep a secret? I mean well, of course, you can but… *sigh* I um… failed to mention the first time that at the end of mine and Cameron's date, well… I sort of gave him the time machine necklace future Aelita had._

 _Now I know what you must be thinking. But hear me out okay? Cameron has no recollection, besides the nightmares, of what he did. And he only believes those are nightmares. I'm sure for both Cameron and Aelita, they will pass._

 _The fact that his memories reverted back to just before I told him my necklace is a time machine is... a miracle._

 _But I gave him the time machine necklace because I told him my family heirloom is too important to have on campus._

 _It seems that he bought the family heirloom lie again–and I did tell him to never sell it and to keep it somewhere he knows he'll find if I ever ask for it back one day. He was happy to help either way and promised me he will keep my family heirloom safe until the day I ask for it back._

 _Apart from that, I'm just glad everything worked out. Odd kept the three Krabs in the factory busy, letting them chase him. On Ulrich's side, he had told me he and William got detention for having a fight._

 _It was apparently over Yumi, and Jim brought them to a classroom, so he didn't disturb me, or the others that were in the library at the time._

 _When the Krabs started attacking, Ulrich mentioned that William helped him with a diversion to get one of the Krabs into the woods! He still can't believe William helped him. He told me that since we're repeating the day for a second time, he's gotten along with William much better now and he was invited to hang out with William somewhere._

 _Yumi told me that a Krab was at her house… if it weren't for Ulrich getting to her on time, well… I'm not sure what would have happened._

 _So it seemed Xana had already sent four Krabs to Earth by the time Jeremy, Aelita, and Odd had arrived at the factory. That's why the scanner looked so damage... but I still can't help but wonder why Xana simply didn't just use all the scanners. He must have really needed to get some sort of information from me through the Scyphozoa. I guess it's a good thing I listened to Aelita._

 _Well, that's about it diary. I hope you can understand that the spare time machine necklace is safer in Cameron's hands. It's best that me, or the others, aren't aware of where it is exactly, so Xana can't get to it._

 _Oh and I have to say while my new outfit and powers might be a tad weird, I think they will come in handy in the near future. I feel that the arrows have a different material them, but sadly I didn't get to try them out._

 _Why on earth I'm sort of maiden knight? I have no idea. The only thing I protect is my time machine… and Aelita. Maybe I'm their protector, I guess? I'll never anything happen to them, or the rest of my friends. So I suppose a maiden knight does make sense._

 _I hope I get to free Mary soon. She's the only one I failed to protect… but with my new powers, I'll do my best to get her free sooner rather than later. I should get going to bed, it's getting late._

 _I just hope Aelita's nightmares of her future self's death will fade away. She and Cameron both deserve some peace._

 _Lila._

Closing my diary, I lock it with my key and put it, along with the key, back in the drawer. Aelita opens the door, coming back from her shower. She's holding her clothes and the towel in her arms.

She's now in her pink pajamas with the t-shirt that has the letter A on it. Going to our shared opened closet, she puts her clothes back into the closet as well as the towel.

Turning to her, I ask:

"So Aelita…. Are you going to be okay tonight?"

"I will be. I think… I think the nightmares are finally going to be over," Aelita replies.

I nod.

"Good… I'm glad," I say and give her a smile. She smiles back at me too.

 _I hope you can sleep peacefully tonight Aelita. You deserve it,_ I think.

* * *

Author's note:

This chapter has been great as I really do enjoy writing in Lila's POV. The nightmares appear to be finally over, both for Cameron and Aelita, and now they can move on from the trauma of the dark saga. Cameron may return, which is another reason why I let him have the future time machine necklace. Hope you all enjoyed it! The second half of season 2 of Lila's Journey is now underway!

Side Note: Lila's new look is based on Saber from the Fate/Stay Night series. Lila's new appearance was reimagined by **AeroJester203.**

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Don't forget to review!

LyokoWarrior1994


	38. New Adventures: Attack of the Zombies

**Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is copyrighted by Moonscoop.**

* * *

 _I only own Lila_ _ **.**_ _Mary is owned by_ **AeroJester203.**

 _This chapter was written by me_ _and edited by_ **Blackcat8539.**

* * *

 _New Adventures: Attack of the Zombies_

* * *

 **Inside Lila and Aelita's room**

 **POV Lila's**

 _Dear Diary…_

 _Hard to believe we're already in March since Valentine's day was just a couple of weeks ago. So much has happened... it's kind of strange to think things in your life can change in just a short amount of time. Today is March 10th, and i_ _t's only been five days since Xana attacked us with the Krabs._

 _Cameron had texted me the other day, letting me know he's finally enrolled in his old school again in New York City. His parents helped him enroll back to the school after he was told to write an apology letter for that scare, he gave his former substitute teacher with that wasp robot he built._

 _Surprisingly she's still there and accepted the apology. He still hasn't gotten a chance to write the letters to us, but he promised he will once he gets the chance to._

 _I do miss Cameron though. He could have helped Odd with the Krabs that chased him. While I'm upset, he's left… I know he had to._

 _Given what happened to future Aelita, and given that we had let him get away with it… he had to go._

 _But I hope, that one day… I'll get to see him again. Especially, if I'll ever need that spare time machine back from him. Hopefully, he won't press the red button any time soon… although, it'll probably tempt him. A lot. God, I hope he doesn't press the button._

 _After a long day of classes and taking my Italian test, that I'm sure I passed, (which from what it sounded like, Jeremy didn't, but we'll know sometime soon what are our grades are), I'm going to meet the others for dinner. Aelita's already gone ahead._

 _Lila._

 **Inside the cafeteria**

Opening the door to the cafeteria I see that Aelita, Ulrich, Odd, and Jeremy are already at our usual table. Walking to the empty dinner line, I grab a tray. I start moving down to see Rosa.

"Hi, Lila, mashed potatoes?" Rosa asks.

"Sure thing, Rosa," I reply. Rosa smiles and, taking my tray, she gives me two full scoops of mashed potatoes.

"We also have chocolate pudding for dessert. I imagine Odd might ask for yours," Rosa warns me.

"I'll take a pudding. He's not getting his hands on mine!" I proclaim with a smile.

Rosa smiles back and places the chocolate pudding on my tray. She gives me a spoon and a fork for the mash potatoes. I take my tray back.

"Thanks, Rosa, I really appreciate it," I say, thanking her genuinely.

"You're welcome. Enjoy," Rosa says.

Heading over to the table, I sit down next to Aelita.

"Hey Lila, I was wondering if I can have your-" Odd starts to say, but I glare at him.

"No Odd, you can't. It's mine," I interrupt.

"But-" I look at Odd's tray, which has three chocolate puddings on it unopened.

"Odd, you have three puddings right there! The answer is no!" I exclaim.

"Fine," Odd pouts.

Jeremy, Ulrich, Aelita and I can't help but chuckle a little. It's good that he has his appetite back, the whole thing with Cameron leaving made him really upset.

 _I can't really imagine how future Aelita's death affected him though… but at least he seems okay,_ I think looking at him.

"Hey Lila, I was thinking, after we have dinner we should work on more combinations again," Jeremy suggests.

"Sure!" I smile.

Odd starts to dig into his mashed potatoes and I start eating my own.

 **Later**

I've finished my mash potatoes and I peel the cover off of my chocolate pudding.

 _This looks really good! I'm not particularly big on sweets but Odd is not getting his hands on this!_ I think.

Odd has finished his third pudding. Aelita, Jeremy, and Ulrich have finished their meals, but Jeremy hasn't touched his pudding yet. I pick up my spoon and get ready to eat my chocolate pudding.

"Say, can I have your chocolate pudding?" Odd asks me.

"Isn't that your fourth one Odd?" Aelita asks. I put the spoon down on my tray and glare at Odd.

"No," I answer. "No, you cannot."

"But you already have the-" Odd starts to say, but Jeremy interrupts him.

"Odd, here," Jeremy pushes his chocolate pudding over to Odd. Shrugging, Odd stops talking and using his spoon, he starts eating his chocolate pudding.

"Odd is like a cow. He has more than one stomach," Ulrich jokes. Aelita and I giggle lightly at that.

Taking my spoon, I dip it into the chocolate pudding and take a bite out of it. I swallow the chocolate pudding down my throat.

 _Wow, I was right! It is good! I wonder where Rosa got this pudding?_ I think.

Odd stops eating his chocolate pudding and is about to retaliate but we hear someone screaming. I put my spoon down.

"Help me!"

Turning towards the entrance of the cafeteria, I see Milly in her bathrobe. She is panting and seems frightened.

"Tamiya came after me! She looked strange and her eyes were completely white and – they were horrible! She looked like Doctor Shrank!" Milly exclaims. Rosa goes over to Milly, to see what's going on.

"Who's Doctor Shrank?" Jeremy asks.

"A psycho TV brain surgeon in Hospital of Horrors," Odd explains.

"Sounds like Xana doesn't it?" Aelita asks.

Jeremy takes out his laptop. He opens it and waits for it to load. He starts typing on it.

"I'm launching the super scan," Jeremy informs us. I hear the program beginning to try and locate the tower. Looking at Milly, she has her hands on her cheeks.

 _Poor Milly,_ I think.

"Calm down, it'll be alright. You must have had a bad dream," Rosa says as she tries to comfort her. She puts her hands-on Milly's shoulders.

"No! I didn't! It was real!" Milly insists.

An alarm goes off from Jeremy's laptop.

"Activated tower," Jeremy confirms.

"Let's head for the factory," Odd suggests.

Taking out his phone, Ulrich flips the phone open. He starts dialing a number.

"I'll let Yumi know," he says. He puts the phone to his ear.

Glancing at Sissi, she sees me looking at her and turns away to mind her own business.

"Yumi, it's Ulrich. We have a problem. You-know-who is active," He informs her, trying to keep it on the down low. "Meet us at the factory." he finishes. Hanging up, he closes his phone and puts his phone back into his pocket.

Milly starts crying, looking at her we get up. Jeremy takes his laptop and puts it back in his bag.

"This is serious! Sissi go get your father," Rosa requests.

"We'll go with you," Ulrich says, his hands in his pockets.

Sissi smiles at Ulrich, and we walk up to her. She takes us to the entrance of the cafeteria and opens the doors. She walks out of the cafeteria first, followed by Ulrich, Aelita, Odd and then me. We see Jim outside. Looking at him, I can tell something seems off about him.

"Hey, Jim! There's a problem with Milly Solovieff," Sissi informs him. She walks up to Jim.

"Jim?" Sissi asks.

Jim turns around at the sound of her voice and my eyes widen. His skin has completely turned green and his eyes are white just like how Milly had described Tamiya.

"Oh my god… is he a, uh-" I stutter, unable to finish the sentence.

"Zombie? Yeah," Ulrich confirms as he grimaces.

Jim growls at Sissi and Sissi screams. She runs away, with zombified Jim slowly starting to follow her.

"Sissi, come back!" Ulrich calls before starting to chase after her.

"We'll meet up at the factory!" Ulrich shouts back at us and tries to catch up to Sissi.

Hearing growling, we see that zombified Jim had given up his chase after Sissi and Ulrich. Odd and I back up to Jeremy and Aelita.

"Over there!" Aelita exclaims, pointing to a horde of growling zombified students. We gasp in shock.

"About face everybody!" Odd exclaims.

Backing up to the door, Jim starts getting closer to us. Odd and I kick zombified Jim in the stomach for good measure, causing him to fall down. Aelita opens the doors and the four of us run inside the cafeteria. I quickly close the door behind me and make sure to lock it.

 **Inside the cafeteria**

We get to where Rosa, Milly, the remaining students, William, Herb and Nicholas all are.

"Hey what's going on?" Rosa asks.

"Uh nothing, just surrounded by zombies ma'am," Odd explains.

"Zo-ombies?" Rosa stutters. Her eyes start going up and it looks like she's about to faint. A kid with dark skin, I think his name is Christophe M' Bala. If I'm not mistaken, I think he's the same kid that announced the DJs during Aelita's first mix. Christophe quickly grabs a seat and Rosa faints into it.

"Nice catch," I compliment. Christophe nods. He removes his headphones and places them around his neck. He's wearing an orange bandana-like-object in his hair, has a green hoodie and a yellow long-sleeved sweatshirt. He is also wearing gray pants.

We start hearing more growling coming our way. The zombified Kadic members start surrounding the cafeteria, I see zombified Tamiya by the door.

"You see? I wasn't dreaming!" Milly exclaims. The zombified Kadic members start clawing on the doors and windows. Their growls continue to grow louder. Then, they suddenly start to leave.

"I bet they'll be back with reinforcements," Herb surmises.

"The problem with the living dead is that you can't kill them, because they're already dead," Nicholas comments morbidly.

Looking at Rosa, I see she's just gotten back up but faints again onto the chair at Nicholas' words. Going to the table, I sit down. Jeremy, Aelita, and Odd are looking at Jeremy's laptop.

"Any news?" I ask.

Jeremy shakes his head. I look at William, he seems to be pacing around while on his phone.

"No, I'm not joking! Hello?!" William exclaims in frustration; his phone call seems to have ended. He redials a number, who I assume is the police. He continues pacing again.

"Zombies – that's right. Like in _Out of the Tomb_?" William references. Jeremy takes his laptop and places it in his bag once again. Getting up we look at Odd who crosses his arms.

"I hope Ulrich got away alright," Aelita frets.

"Don't worry, he's probably at the factory right now and we've got to join him ASAP," Odd says. He puts his hand on an emergency door that's in front of us. He then starts to pull down on the handle.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" William asks, catching us.

"Uh outside," Jeremy replies.

"No way, it's too dangerous," William decides.

"Listen, William-" I start to say but he interrupts me.

"No, you listen. I'm the oldest one here, and I'm making the decisions, and I say no one is going outside! I'm not going to lose anyone else!" William exclaims. Going over to us, he goes to Odd. He puts his hand on Odd's shoulder. Odd looks at William.

"William, this is our problem," Odd says.

"I don't want any of the zombies to get you! Don't you get that? What's more, if the zombies do come back, we need as many of us here as possible," William says before walking away to address everyone in the room.

"Anyone who tries to get out has to get past me first. Understand?" William asks. All of us look at William, he looks back at us.

"Great. William thinks he's Bruce Willis. That's just what we needed," Odd says, upset.

"Bruce who-the-what now?" I ask.

"He's a movie actor," Odd explains.

"Ah. Guess he has the same personality as William?" I conclude.

"Some of his characters do, yeah," he confirms.

"Look William, we don't have a lot of time on our hands. So, there's only one thing to do. We'll explain what's going on," Jeremy says, speaking up. William raises his eyebrow.

"Jeremy are you sure?" I ask.

Jeremy nods. The four of us walk up to William. Jeremy starts explaining the quick version of what's going on, William shakes his head in disbelief.

"A supercomputer that lets you go into a virtual universe where you have to battle an evil enemy called Xana?" William asks in disbelief.

Jeremy nods.

"Ah yes, when you put it that way I admit it sounds a little weird," Jeremy replies.

"If you want us to stop the zombie attack; Odd, Jeremy, Lila, and I must get to the factory right now," Aelita says, her arms crossed.

"Look I'm sorry, but I don't believe you. We all have to stay together," William says, he turns away from us and walks over to Nicholas and Herb.

"Okay plan B, I'll distract him and you, Lilia and Aelita take off," Odd says.

"Good idea," I confirm.

"Hey Jackie Chan, you think you're the boss of us?" Odd asks walking up to William. William turns to Odd.

"Yes, and I want to get us out of this unharmed," William answers.

Pulling the handle on the door, Jeremy is about to take a step outside when Herb spots us.

"Look, they're getting away!" Herb exclaims.

"Jeremy!" Aelita and I cry as William walks up to Jeremy. He takes Jeremy by the arms and pushes him to the ground. I run over to Jeremy and kneel down next to him. Looking at William, I glare at him.

"I'm sorry but it's for his own good. You'll thank me for it one day," William says.

 _Yeah right! Ugh, I wish I knew how future me would have handled this…_ I trail off in thought. William walks away from us. Helping Jeremy up, I fix his glasses for him.

"Thanks. He's so stubborn!" Jeremy says, annoyed.

I sigh in exasperation, "tell me about it."

Jeremy's phone starts ringing. He picks it up.

"Ulrich?" Jeremy asks. "No, we're still not there. William won't let us out. See if you can reach Yumi," Jeremy says, before hanging up.

Odd goes to the window and pulls the blinds up a bit, checking on our zombified Kadic members.

"They're coming from all sides," Odd informs us.

Hearing a wagging noise coming near us, we look around and see Kiwi has somehow gotten into the cafeteria.

"Hey look, there's Kiwi! He found me. See how smart he is?" Odd asks rhetorically.

Odd starts walking up to Kiwi.

"My little diggity dog," he says.

"Hey!" Milly exclaims, "that's the same dog we saw in the hallway just before Tamiya got zombified. Wait, Odd!"

Looking at Odd, Kiwi growls at him then bites his hand.

"Kiwi! What's wrong with you?" Odd asks.

Looking at Kiwi, his eyes flicker. Kiwi walks away and disappears, leaving in the same unexplainable way he came in.

 _He must have been possessed! I gotta restrain Odd and quickly!_ I think.

"Xana," Odd says. He places his hand on his head in pain.

"I got him!" I exclaim. Running to him, I grab Odd by his arm, trying to restrain by putting him into a headlock. I had learned the move only recently, during this time off we had from Xana. His skin starts turning green and his eyes are now white. He throws me off and onto a table.

"Lila!" Jeremy cries.

"Hurry up!" William exclaims.

William, Christophe and Nicholas surround Odd. William lunges forwards, attracting zombie Odd's full attention. Christophe and Nicholas use the opening to grab an arm each. Together, they wrestle him to the floor while William pins him down.

Jeremy runs to me and offers his hand.

"Thanks… ugh, that was rough," I complain, and I take his hand.

 **Afterwards**

Odd's tied up against a chair with chains that Christophe and Nicholas found. Using a napkin, they cover Odd's mouth.

"So you're saying Kiwi is possessed by this – this Xana?" William asks.

"Right but now, thanks to you, Kiwi is somewhere nearby waiting to bite us. What's more, we're surrounded by an army of the living dead. If you had let us go before, we wouldn't be in this mess," Jeremy replies angrily.

William takes Jeremy by his turtleneck, "listen, if you have gone out you would be a zombie by now! Idiot! I'm getting tired of listening to you go on about your factory and your stupid supercomputer!" he exclaims.

"William, let Jeremy go!" I demand.

"Or what Smith? Don't you get that I'm just trying to-" William starts to say but an ominous growling cuts him off. I look at the window and I see zombified Jim, Tamiya, and Emily at the doors.

They suddenly start turning around and head in a different direction. Sissi comes up and starts pounding on the door.

"I'm not one of them! Let me in!" Sissi exclaims.

"She's lying," Herb says. I sigh internally.

 _That's clearly Sissi… what is Herb thinking?_ I think.

"Help!" Sissi cries.

"Prove it!" Herb shouts, walking up to the door.

"I have a subscription to pretty girls magazine and I still sleep with my stuffed moose," Sissi says.

"That has nothing to do with this!" Herb exclaims, "that just proves you're lame."

Upon hearing the growling get louder and thus closer, I yell at Herb, "Herb, just open the door! It's her!"

"How can you be sure?" Herb asks, looking at me.

"You heard what she said! You open this door right now, you bunch of pee brain dorks!" Sissi demands.

"Okay, that's Sissi alright!" Nicholas says. Herb opens the door and Sissi runs in screaming. Zombified Jim comes in right behind her and starts moving towards us. Milly screams. Nicholas quickly picks up a chair and jumps into his path. With a mighty cry, he crashes it into zombie Jim's head.

"Come on! It's now or never!" Jeremy exclaims as he starts making his way to the other entrance.

Aelita follows close behind him but I pause when I see zombified Jim grab William. He throws him outside. There's nothing I can do for him, so I start running to the door after Aelita.

 **Afterwards**

 **In the woods**

Reaching the woods, we continue running from the zombies.

Suddenly, Yumi appears and round kicks a zombie who is about to try and block our path. As she pauses to also take out a zombified nurse Yolanda we close the gap to her position.

"Hurry up! Let's get back to the factory!" Yumi shouts, kicking a third zombie hard enough to send them flying backward. The zombified student hits the group closest to us and manages to slow our pursuers a little.

We finally we catch up to Yumi and Aelita runs past her, Jeremy closely following Aelita while I'm right behind them. Yumi stays hot on our heels.

 **Inside the lab**

The freight elevator doors open, and Jeremy walks into the lab.

"Get into the scanners, I'll start the virtualization process," he instructs us.

"Right," I say.

 **Inside the scanner room**

 _"Okay ladies. Get ready to roll,"_ Jeremy's voice says through the speakers.

Aelita takes the middle scanner, I take the one on the left and Yumi takes the one on the right.

We step into the scanners and simultaneously the doors close. I close my eyes.

 _"Transfer: Yumi. Transfer: Aelita. Transfer: Lila."_

The scanners start spinning.

 _"Scanner: Yumi. Scanner: Aelita. Scanner: Lila."_

The scanner continues to spin and starts humming. I wait for the bright light and wind to engulf me.

 _"Virtualization!"_

The wind and light hit me, billowing my hair and time machine necklace. I'm virtualized to Lyoko.

 **Lyoko's Desert Sector**

Opening my eyes, my vision returns and I'm falling in the Desert Sector. Aelita, Yumi, and I land safely.

 _"Here's your Overwing and broomstick,"_ Jeremy informs us. The vehicles materialize. Getting up Yumi, Aelita and I look at each other.

"Wow, you're getting better Jeremy," Yumi compliments. "Soon we'll be landing right on top of them."

Yumi runs onto her Overwing and Aelita gets on with her. I run to my broomstick. I kick my broomstick into the air and take off as Yumi does too.

 _"Okay, remember guys, watch out for any nasty surprises. Lila I've been thinking, seeing as you're not a witch anymore, I should probably make you a new vehicle that would be more comfortable for you. Could take a while though."_

"Thanks, Jeremy. Yeah, I'd like that. Whenever you can," I say and continue flying into the air with Yumi and Aelita. Traveling over the plateaus we locate the activated tower.

"Activated tower in sight," Yumi informs Jeremy. Flying upward, we circle in closer to the tower.

"Krabs also in sight," Aelita says, spying Xana's creations.

 _"Xana played his cards right. He's learned to bring you onto Lyoko, Aelita, but with few bodyguards as possible. That's why Kiwi bit Odd but not you, me or Lila. Be careful."_

Circling the tower, I get an idea, "I'm going to create a distraction and try to take one of them out okay?"

"What are you going to-" Aelita starts to ask but before she can finish I stand up on my broomstick. Quickly, I get out my hunter's knife from its sleeve. Focusing my powers, I let them flow through me. My lightning bolt glows, and electricity is poured into the hunter's knife.

I take a deep breath before I jump off my broomstick. As I fall the hunter's knife reaches fully charge. My feet hit the head of the Krab first, but I use the rest of the momentum to drive my knife into the Xana target eye.

A blast of electricity shocks the beast and, as it collapses beneath me, I look up to see that I now have the attention of the other two Krabs.

Jumping off the Krab I just took down I race forwards as the other two Krabs start to shoot at me. I manage to duck behind a rock just in time. I put my hunter's knife back into its sleeve, and the lightning bolt stops glowing. I hear the sound of Yumi's Overwing and duck my head out from behind the rock to get a brief look.

I am just in time to see both Krabs hit her.

"Yumi!" I cry in warning, but I'm much too late. She devirtualizes.

Looking upwards, I see Aelita is barely able to take control of the Overwing just in time before she, and it, fall. She starts circling the tower with Yumi's Overwing. She is desperately dodging the Krab's lasers. Looking up at Aelita, they continue firing at her, hitting the tower each time they miss. They give me a clear view of their target eye.

 _I've got to do something!_ I think. I strain to think of a way to take out both Krabs when suddenly I remember my bow. I take my bow off its hook. I grab one arrow from the quiver. Looking at the bow, and arrows, I know now why these weapons seemed different from the start. They're made out of metal, specifically silver.

I put the arrow on the bow, and I line it up. I pull back the drawstring, I stand and take a step out from behind my rock. Focusing my powers, I let them flow through me and wait for the glow. The lightning bolt glows and I desperately start pumping electricity into the arrow.

Aelita spots me and, as I prepare to lunch my now sparking arrow.

I let my arrow fly.

I watch in anticipation as the arrow arches through the air. In the next moment, it hits one of the Krab's target eye. The Krab explodes as the arrow then releases the electricity, temporarily shocking the remaining Krab.

Taking this opportunity, I grab another arrow from my quiver. I put the arrow on the bow, pull the drawstring and release. The arrow flies at the Krab as it is still being shocked by the electricity, and the arrow hits the target eye. The Krab explodes.

Aelita dives down on the ground with the Overwing. Reaching the ground, she gets off the Overwing. She slowly walks into it, and enters the tower's 'doorway'.

Looking up, I update our friends, "Jeremy, Yumi, Aelita's entered the tower."

There's no response from Jeremy.

Putting my bow back on its hook I ask, "Yumi, are you there?"

There's no response from Yumi either. I start to hear growling coming from the headset.

"Oh no…" I trail off, watching as the tower turns blue.

 _"Aelita… Lila… Return to the Past, now!"_ zombified Jeremy exclaims. He struggles to initiate the return trip. A big white bubble engulfs us all, sending us back in time.

 **Earlier that day**

 **After the Italian test**

 **By the arches**

Opening my eyes, I realize I'm back under the arches with the others.

"You see, I didn't even get that," Jeremy says to Yumi, referring to not understanding what Odd had just said in Italian.

Looking at Sissi, she's walking away from Milly and Tamiya.

"Sissi, what do you think about your father's decision to set up a language exchange program with France? Our readers want to know," Milly says, holding her pen and pad ready for a quote. Sissi turns to Milly and Tamiya.

"My dear Milly, your paper doesn't have any readers and anyways, I don't need the whole school knowing what I think! Understand?" Sissi asks and walks away from them. Herb and Nicholas look at her.

"Coming?" Sissi asks.

Herb and Nicholas walk up to Sissi and follow her. We walk over to Milly and Tamiya.

"Ooh, I hate her!" Milly exclaims, stomping her foot.

Ulrich puts his hand on Milly's shoulder, "it's true that she's a pain but you know deep down, I think she really likes you." He releases his grip on her shoulder.

"And I think she can be very brave and a very nice person when she wants to be," Aelita adds, looking at Sissi who is walking to the cafeteria.

"Yeah. She just has trouble showing it," I say.

Milly and Tamiya look at us, shocked by our words.

"What?" Milly asks, completely baffled.

William passes by the cafeteria, I look at him.

 _William on the other hand… ugh, he's such a pain,_ I think.

"You can never guess a person's true colors, can you?" Jeremy asks.

A round of nods and agreeing smiles meet his statement.

 _Sissi really can be a kind person. I hope all of us get to see more of her nicer side soon,_ I think.

* * *

Author's Note: Things are a little different in this chapter and because Lila wasn't handicapped with a cane, Rosa didn't prepare the same food for her. Cameron will be mentioned a few times throughout this second half of season 2 but won't actually return. Lila mentioned that it was the end of March in the first timeline because she was in the hospital for more than a few weeks, and during that time Xana did not attack. Xana attacked sooner this time, so this attack happens on March 10th.

Finally, on one last note, a poll has been created to determine the fate of The Adventures of Lila Belpois. Lately, things have been getting busy so I think I am going to discontinue the filler arc. However, if you vote that you don't want me to discontinue the filler arc, and let it end on Ghost Channel (with the story being written in past tense) then I will eventually update the filler arc. If that happens, please point out any continuity errors occur during the filler arc. I feel this is important to say, so I've decided if the filler arc continues, that there will most likely be no diary entries at all during the filler arc to avoid continuity errors. The poll will be opened for quite a while so don't forget to visit my profile, it would really help.

Update: A mistake concerning Lila kicking the broomstick in the ground, instead of into the air has been fixed. A mistake with Lila's lightning bolt power has also been fixed.

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As always don't forget to review!

LyokoWarrior1994


	39. Ultimatum

**Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is copyrighted by Moonscoop.**

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 _This chapter was written by me. It was edited by_ **AeroJester203.**

I only own Lila. Mary is owned by **AeroJester203.**

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 _Enjoy!_

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 _Ultimatum_

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 **Inside the factory**

 **POV Lila's**

Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, Aelita, and I all look at Jeremy's latest creation, an EMP bomb. He exits the elevator before us, to stand by it.

"So, you're saying this thing can destroy someone who is under Xana's control?" Yumi asks.

Jeremy lifts his finger, "It isn't a thing; it's an EMP bomb. It makes an electromagnetic explosion that affects anything electronic. Because the pixelated body of someone that's under Xana control is held together by a force field, well-"

Holding his hand up, Odd says, "Uh, Jeremy, we've got a class in twenty minutes. Can you give us the cliff notes version?"

"Bomb explodes. The guy under Xana's control eliminated," my father simplifies in a deadpan tone.

"Great," Aelita smiles.

"Right, except for one little thing…" Jeremy trails off, rubbing his hand on the back of his head.

I raise an eyebrow,

"What's that?"

"I haven't come up with a mini version yet," he answers. I look at the version he has on the ground now. It is somewhat big and clunky.

 **Later**

 **Outside the cafeteria**

Aelita, Jeremy and I are sitting on the steps of the cafeteria with Ulrich standing nearby as well. My father is on his laptop, likely working on something since he's never idle for long. Getting a nagging feeling of trouble from my instincts, I look to see Sissi and her two cronies walking to us. They reach us, and Sissi puts her foot on the step.

"Huh, what a surprise. What do you know, Yumi isn't here with you," Sissi notices while pretending to look around with the extra height. Taking her foot off the step, she puts her hand on her head in mock realization, "Oh, that's right! I just saw her with William; how stupid of me."

"You got that right," Ulrich snaps back.

Sissi smirks at him before she leaves with Herb and Nicholas following.

"Why is it that you feel like being nasty?" Jeremy asks. I hear his laptop running the super scan.

Ulrich crosses his arms, "Maybe because being with someone nasty rubs off on you."

Jeremy's laptop goes off, confirming the tower, "Xana's activated a tower. Too bad for our music class; let's get to the factory."

We get ready to move to the manhole, Jeremy putting his laptop away.

"Where do you think you kids are going? _That's_ the way to your classroom!" Jim exclaims as he walks towards us and points to the building. Looking next to him, I see Mr. Delmas nearby as well.

"Great. Now, what do we do?" I ask.

Ulrich sighs, "I guess we go to our class."

 **In music class**

I'm bored out of my mind as our teacher continues playing the flute in a demonstration.

 _It's not that I don't like music or anything… but it's boring. I mean we had that one band way back when… but we had to stop it because of Xana. Didn't have the time,_ I think.

Looking at my classmates, I can tell from their expressions that they find music class boring too. The door suddenly swings open forcefully, Nicholas entering the room and interrupting our teacher who stops playing the flute.

He calls out, "Delmas just kidnapped Ishiyama and Della Robbia!"

"Xana…" Jeremy mutters.

I curse under my breath, "Great, we could have already been on Lyoko if it weren't for Jim."

The two of us look at each other and nod in agreement to get to the factory ASAP.

"What kind of nonsense is this?" our teacher asks.

"But it's true, sir," Nicholas protests. "He even beat up William Dunbar."

Some of my classmates gasp in shock. Our teacher starts walking out, but looks back at the class, "Don't you move, I'll be right back."

He closes the door, and everyone starts talking amongst themselves. Turning to my friends, I see that Aelita looks concerned and Ulrich is on his cell phone.

"Yumi isn't answering," Ulrich says. "And Odd isn't either."

Jeremy's phone starts ringing, and he looks at the screen.

"A message from Xana," he says. Clicking on it, Jeremy starts reading it aloud, "Aelita and Lila at two o'clock in the Ice Sector to give themselves up to the Scyphozoa. If not… then Odd and Yumi will be liquidated." All of us gasp.

 _Xana… I swear if you hurt them, you'll regret it one day,_ I internally vow.

Getting up from his seat Ulrich says, "We don't have any time to lose! Let's go!"

"Okay," Jeremy agrees as he's about to sit up, but then the classroom's door opens. Our teacher enters the room.

"I want everybody in their seats right now!" he orders.

"What's happening?" one of our classmates asks as the rest of our classmates continue to murmur.

Ulrich growls as he takes his seat, "How do people expect us to save the world if they don't leave us alone?"

"I don't know Ulrich… but we'll figure it out," I say. I can tell it must be killing him to have both his crush and friend in danger.

"I hope so," he sighs.

"And quiet down," Our music teacher adds, closing the door shut.

 **Afterwards**

Jim is talking to a bunch of students outside by the arches with the police officers. Getting away from the group, we start tiptoeing under the arches so that way we can get to the factory.

"Right then, everybody hear? Classes are canceled for the day, so you can all go home," Jim says. As we continue to sneak away, I hear him add, "Sissi, William, the detective would like to ask you a few questions."

"Hey what about those guys?" Sissi demands. "You should question them too; they're always scheming with Odd and Yumi."

We start speed walking since we can tell she's talking about us.

"Stern, Belpois, Smith and Stones," Jim calls out. Looking at him, we stop.

Jeremy sighs, "Definitely not our day."

"I wouldn't be surprised if they knew something about what happened to my father," Sissi assumes.

 _To be fair, she's not wrong, but it couldn't come at a worse time,_ I think.

The detective starts making his way towards us, "Come on you four. Follow me."

"Ready?" Ulrich asks quietly.

I whisper back, "Whenever you are."

"Go!" Jeremy exclaims.

We take off and start running.

"Hey, come on, get back here!" Jim calls out.

Running from them, we jump off the steps and start making our way across the campus. Getting to a gate, we climb over it and run across the track field, trying to get to the shortcut by the gym. Hearing Jim, and probably a few policemen behind us, we continue crossing the field.

"Come back here!" Jim exclaims, his voice sounding closer. Jeremy and I are behind Aelita and Ulrich. We continue running, and Ulrich splits from us making his own way. Before I can look, three policemen grab me along with Jeremy and Aelita. Meanwhile, Jim tries to catch up to Ulrich.

"Let go of me right now!" I exclaim, trying to get myself free.

"I'll get him!" Jim exclaims, turning back to look at us as he runs. He crashes into a tree and the detective exasperatedly makes his way to find Ulrich.

 _I hope he gets away alright…_ I think.

 **Inside the secretary's office**

Sissi, Aelita, Jeremy and I are waiting in the secretary's office while the police search Mr. Delmas's office. There's one policeman and policewoman guarding the exit.

"Thanks a lot, Sissi," Jeremy says in an irritated tone. "It just so happens we're the only one who can help your father."

"What do you mean?" Sissi asks.

"Your father is, um… pos-possessed," Aelita stammers.

"Oh yeah, right. Like in Hospital of Horrors?" Sissi asks sarcastically. "And he's been taken over by a demonic entity that will make him do unspeakable things, huh?"

"Basically, yeah," I reply.

She looks at me skeptically and I meet her gaze seriously to let her know I'm not joking. At length, Sissi asks, "So, what can you do to help my father then?"

"We need to leave here so we can bring Aelita to…" I look at her and she nods approvingly, "to this virtual world. The demonic entity is from there, and he uses these towers from that world to attack us in the real world. We can only get to the world via a supercomputer in an abandoned factory that's near the school. That's why we skip class often or miss it completely. We keep saving the world from Xana."

"Xana?" Sissi asks.

"It's like a virus," Jeremy explains. "Rather, _we_ call Xana a he, but it's a virus that spreads itself from the virtual world and into our world. If we don't stop him, he'll continue to spread and spread."

"And how do you stop him?' Sissi asks.

Aelita joined the discussion, saying, "After I deactivate the tower on Lyoko, Jeremy or myself – depending on the circumstances – will launch a return to the past. It'll wipe out the memories of the day Xana launched his attack. We usually end up repeating the day."

"Huh," Sissi says, trying to process the information. She looks at me,

"What's your role in this?"

"Well… like Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi, I help Aelita and protect her to get to the tower safely so that she can deactivate the tower. She's the only one of us who can't devirtualize normally, and if we lose her on Lyoko, she, well… Um…" I rub my neck nervously.

"I die," Aelita finishes. "But that's the risk I'm willing to take for people like your father who suffer from Xana's influence."

"You're willing to risk yourself for my father?" Sissi asks. "After all the times I was mean to you?"

"It doesn't matter if you were mean to me, Sissi. I care about everyone in my life. I have a duty to protect my friends, my classmates and anyone else Xana may try to harm. Will you help us?" Aelita asks.

Sissi thinks it over, "Well… it sounds completely bananas… But I think I can help." Straightening up and composing herself, she calls, "Officers?"

"Yes, Miss Delmas?' The policewoman asks.

"I have some information regarding my father I believe may help you," Sissi says. "May I tell the detective inside?"

"Of course, ma'am. Follow me," the policewoman replies. Sissi gets up and the policewoman brings her to Delmas's office. The officer knocks on the door before opening it.

"Detective, Miss Delmas has information regarding her father," she tells the detective. He stops searching Delmas's office and looks at Sissi.

"Very well," he nods. "Please come in, what do you have?"

Sissi goes in, and the policewoman closes the door.

 **Afterwards**

Looking at the door, Jeremy, Aelita, and I are all nervous since Sissi has been chatting with the detective for a few minutes.

The door suddenly bursts open, the detective shouting, "Evacuate the school!"

He runs out the door and goes to his other officers.

"Huh?!" the three of us exclaim as we're left behind.

Sissi stands in the doorway to her father's office and smiles mischievously.

 _Sissi… what on Earth did you tell him?_ I think.

 **Outside**

Aelita, Sissi, Jeremy and I start running away from Kadic Academy. Getting to the park, we take a collective breather.

Jeremy turns around and nods, "Thanks for trusting us Sissi."

"Don't mention it. But if your story about a virtual world turns out to be phony – you're going to regret it," she warns.

Jeremy's phone starts ringing and he picks it up, putting the phone against his ear.

"Ulrich, where are you?" Jeremy asks. There's a pause as he listens, and he looks at his watch. "Xana's Ultimatum expires in fifteen minutes."

He hangs up the call, and the three of us start running to the woods.

 **In the woods**

Looking behind me, Jeremy and I see Sissi is still behind us.

"Sissi what are you doing?" Jeremy asks.

"I'm coming with you," Sissi replies, catching up to us. "Remember, my father is involved in this. And I want to check out this virtual world you've been blabbing about."

"Well, Jeremy… Maybe we should…" I trail off in suggestion, not meeting his eyes.

"Are you _serious_?!" Jeremy exclaims, looking at me once he catches on.

Aelita takes my idea in a calmer fashion, asking, "Are you sure that's a good idea, Lila? Especially after Cameron?"

"Sissi is someone we can trust," I reply. "She has good in her."

"What are you talking about?" Sissi asks.

Jeremy stares at me for a moment before letting a breath out of his nose and saying, "Sissi… If you want to see this virtual world, why don't you just join Aelita and Lila on it, after Xana's ultimatum expires? Ulrich is on his way to use the EMP bomb I invented, that will help un-possess your father."

"A bomb?" Sissi asks fearfully. "Will it kill him?"

"No. At worst it'll render him unconscious for a little while, but he'll be okay," Jeremy explains, trying to reassure her as we get closer to the manhole.

"Um… alright," she agrees with a slight shrug. "I'll see this virtual world of yours in person I guess."

While we climb down, I think, _I know this didn't happen in the original timeline, but honestly… the Miss Delmas I knew wanted to change herself to become better. Maybe if our Sissi now becomes a Lyoko Warrior, she can do it for herself and help others instead of bullying them. I just hope we don't regret this,_ I think.

 **Inside the lab**

Getting to the lab, Jeremy starts typing on the keyboard. Aelita and I watch him as Sissi walks around the room, fascinated at its high-tech appearance. The three of us look at the monitors, the main one showing the Scyphozoa already waiting on Lyoko.

"Wow," Sissi marvels behind us. "I feel like I'm in a _James Bond_ movie."

"Xana doesn't waste time. Your friend, the Scyphozoa is already waiting," Jeremy says and continues typing.

Aelita frowns, "How much time before the Ultimatum is up?"

"Two more minutes," he answers, a digital timer coming up to keep track.

Ulrich's number pops up on of the screen, and Jeremy presses a few keys to answers it as the timer continues counting down.

"Ulrich, there's one minute and thirty seconds to go!"

 _"There's a dozen rooms here,"_ Ulrich replies worriedly. " _I'm not sure if I'll find them in time!"_

Aelita lowers her head upset, "I should have handed myself over to the Scyphozoa."

"No, we can't think like that Aelita. I believe in Ulrich; he'll find them in time," I say, trying to reassure her.

She looks at me, "How can you be so sure?"

"There's always hope," I reply.

Looking at the timer, it's gone down to three seconds. Sissi joins us by the screens and the countdown blinks red.

"The Ultimatum is up!" Jeremy exclaims.

 _"Jeremy, I found them!"_ Ulrich reports. _"That EMP bomb you built won't blow the principal up, will it?"_

"Theoretically speaking, no, it shouldn't," my father replies.

Sissi whips her head to him, "But you said–"

I put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "Relax, Sissi. Jeremy's a genius at this stuff; it won't harm him."

"Okay…" Sissi trails off.

Looking back at the screen, we hear Ulrich say, _"Watch out!"_

The image of his phone number abruptly disappears, letting us know that the signal cut off.

"Ulrich!" Jeremy calls through his headset. "Ulrich, can you hear me?"

"You said that bomb fries anything electronic," Aelita speculates. "So that would mean cell phones, too right?"

Jeremy palms his forehead in frustration, "Oh, I'm such a dork! I didn't think of that!"

"Can we find out if it worked?" Sissi asks, holding a hand to her face in concern. "My father might be dead by now."

"Or in great shape, giving Odd, Yumi and Ulrich a piece of his mind," Jeremy replies, getting up from his chair to pace about the room. Aelita goes over to Sissi and whispers something in the ear, my father too anxious to notice.

I raise my eyebrow at the move but keep quiet. Sissi nods to Aelita before turning to Jeremy.

"Oh, what rotten luck!" he grumbles, still pacing around.

"Oh, Jeremy?" Sissi asks.

Jeremy looks at her, and she suddenly gets into a fighting stance. Sissi kicks Jeremy's leg, causing him to go down, and then gives him a punch in the stomach knocking him into his chair and rendering him unconscious.

"What did you do that for?!" I exclaim.

"I told her to, Lila," Aelita explains. "Jeremy would never let us go to Lyoko by ourselves." She looks to Sissi, "And nice job. Where did you learn to punch like that?"

"I took Pencak Silat classes to impress Ulrich, but it didn't work," she replies. "What now?"

"Now, I'm going to launch a self-virtualization for the three of us," Aelita answers. "I'm the only one who can deactivate the tower, and the sooner we get to Lyoko, the sooner your father will return to normal."

"Okay… I'm glad I took those lessons. It'll be nice to put them to the test," Sissi says.

Nodding, Aelita goes over to the keyboard and starts typing.

I shake my head, "The others are going to be in for a heck of a surprise after this return trip."

"Yeah, they will be. Sissi, we're trusting you," Aelita says, and continues to type.

"I know. I won't let you down," Sissi smiles. "If this helps my father get back to normal, then that's all that matters."

"Okay. I've set it! Let's use the ladder chute," Aelita says, pointing to the hatch near the wall.

Sissi nods, and we start running to it.

 **Inside the scanner room**

Sissi takes the left-hand scanner, I take the middle, and Aelita takes the right.

"Once you're in the cabin, remain calm and close your eyes," I tell Sissi.

"You'll be there in less than a minute."

"Okay…" she replies nervously. Stepping into the scanners, they close automatically once the pre-set virtualization process starts.

As I close my eyes, the scanner starts spinning. It continues to power up and starts humming. I'm virtualized to Lyoko in its usual rush of wind and flash of light.

 **Lyoko's Ice Sector**

Opening my eyes, I see Sissi, Aelita, and I forming in the air before dropping to the ice. Sissi screams as she falls to the ground hard while Aelita and I land safely.

Looking at Sissi, her outfit consists of a white leotard-like outfit with a black skirt, white knee socks and black toe shoes. The top is sleeveless, but she has a white glove that goes up to the bicep on her left arm with a black palm and back of the hand, the fingers and arm portion being white. She has another glove of similar design, but only going to her wrist. On her right forearm is a bracer with three slot reels behind glass circles on the top, a fourth one appearing empty. On her waist is a belt to hold a short baton, which makes sense since it looks like she's a cheerleader.

Sissi looks at her bracer closely once she gets up, "Lady Luck? What does that mean?"

Suddenly, the reels in her bracer start spinning and three symbols appear in three slots, leaving the fourth one empty. I can't see what she got from here, though.

"Wow… this is so cool!" Sissi exclaims and she notices her hair is also tied up into a ponytail, presumably to keep it from flying in her face.

She looks at Aelita and me before beaming happily, "I love both of your outfits!"

"Thanks, Sissi. But this isn't the time for fashion talk, let's get going," Aelita says.

"Okay!" Sissi exclaims. Taking her baton off its holder, she notices a button on it and presses it. The baton extends twice its size, and she grips it in her hand.

We start running along the icy bridge. The three of us continue for a while when a laser comes from behind. I hear clicking behind us.

"What was that?!" Sissi exclaims, holding her baton to defend herself.

Glancing over my shoulder, I look to see three Kankrelats chasing after us.

"Kankrelats," I curse while taking my bow and nocking an arrow before turning to Aelita. "What should we do?"

"Ignore them, we need to get to the tower!" Aelita urges.

I put my bow back on its hook and place the arrow back in my quiver.

Dodging the lasers, the three of us make it to a clearing surrounded by ice. We get to the edge of it, and there's an ice slide to go down. Aelita and Sissi seem frightened by the height.

I reach out to them, "Grab my hands, come on!"

Sissi presses the button on her baton, and it shrinks back into its compact size. She puts the baton onto her belt's holder and takes my hand while Aelita takes my other one. The three of us run to the slide. Despite our intention to stay together, we lose our grip rather quickly and start screaming as we slide down. We get to an ice cave and Lyoko's scenery disappears from us temporarily.

Sissi seems to regret her decision to come with us as she shouts, "I kind of wish I had stayed back on Earth!"

"You get used to it!" I call back as we continue sliding down the icy slide.

The Kankrelats' lasers start bouncing off the walls. Bending my head back, I quickly miss the ricocheting laser by a few inches. Hearing their half-metallic bodies scraping down the ice in a more sporadic slide following us, we start to see the regular ice floor coming back into our view.

"There!" I exclaim.

Sliding out of the cave, we drop off a cliff and yell on our way down. Our bodies flip in the air from the extra push we received, and coming into a view, we see pointed ice rocks.

"Pull your body downwards!" I direct.

Sissi and Aelita follow my instructions, and we drop down. We hit the ice hard, as our bodies smack flat against the side of the ice, but better that than headfirst or being impaled on the points. One of the Kankrelats crashes into the ice, bounces off, then explodes.

Looking at the cave, another Kankrelat flies out and lands on its robotic legs. It slides on the ground while leaving scratches in the digital ice, trying to stop itself from crashing like its friend did. It comes to a stop and starts moving towards us.

Taking out her baton, Sissi presses the button on it and it extends. Gripping it, she twirls it around a bit and aims it vertically at the Kankrelat. She swings her baton at the monster, unleashing a gust of wind at it. The wind hits the Kankrelat quickly, throwing it against the ice.

Taking my bow off its hook, I put an arrow on it. I draw it back as the Kankrelat skids across the ice trying to regain its footing. I release the arrow to pierce the eye of Xana on its upper body, destroying it.

Hearing the Scyphozoa's droning, Aelita and I look at the giant jellyfish. We back away from it and I drop my bow from fright.

"Sissi, get away from it!" I exclaim.

Backing up, the three of us start running from the Scyphozoa while Sissi looks at her bracer. I hear her mutter, "Are these-"

Another Kankrelat appears in front of us, coming from behind an ice pillar. It charges its laser at Sissi.

"You look like a weapon!" she hurriedly says as the first circle flares with a blue light.

Sissi generates three blue projectiles shaped like the spade symbol from card games. She sends one of them flying at the Kankrelat before it releases the laser. The spade proves as sharp as its point appears, sinking into the Kankrelat and shorting out its attack before it explodes.

We turn around to see that the Scyphozoa has caught up, its tentacles already reaching for Aelita and me. Before they can touch one of us, though, Sissi sends the two remaining spades flying at the tentacles, cutting them off. The Scyphozoa screeches in pain as it retreats.

"Nice job Sissi!" I praise. "How did you do that?"

"I think these slots give me-" Sissi starts to say, but two lasers come out from nowhere and hit her, devirtualizing her instantly.

"Hey!" I exclaim, turning to see another Kankrelat. "Not cool!"

Taking my hunter's knife out of its sleeve, I growl, "You little pest! Aelita, stay right behind me."

I start charging at the Kankrelat as it readies its laser again, and I begin channeling my electricity into my hunter's knife. My lightning bolt glows, letting me know I'm charged up. The monster fires off its laser and I quickly put my hunter's knife in front of me, shielding Aelita and me.

The electrically charged hunter's knife reflects the Kankrelat's laser back at it, hitting it dead center and making it explode. Sheathing my knife again, Aelita and I run to where my bow is. Picking it up, I put it back on its hook, and we start running to the tower.

 **Afterwards**

Getting near the tower, Aelita and I look around the ice and see another cave entrance above us.

"Now what?" I ask.

 _"Aelita, Lila! Why did Sissi knock me out?"_ Jeremy asks, apparently having woken up. _"More importantly, why are you on Lyoko?"_

"We're close to the tower Jeremy," Aelita replies. "I'm sorry; I had her knock you out because I needed her and Lila's help getting to the tower. Can you materialize the Overwing for us?"

 _"I will. I take it she's been scanned then?"_ Jeremy asks.

The Overwing is materialized next to us. We both hop on, me behind Aelita so she can steer while I run defense with my bow.

"Yes… She helped us a lot, Jeremy," Aelita says. "Where is she now?"

" _She went to help Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi on the bridge after I woke up. Her father was momentarily rendered unconscious, but we need to deactivate the tower. You're near it; just keep flying where you're heading to, and you should see it."_

"We're on it," I say.

Flying the Overwing up and into the enclosed the cave, we start flying deeper inside. Reaching the end of the ice cave, Aelita flies the Overwing out of the exit. She brings it to the ground, and we see the activated tower with no monsters in sight.

"I'm off. Jeremy don't forget Sissi will remember everything once you launch the return trip," Aelita reminds him, and hops off of the Overwing.

 _"I know, Aelita,"_ Jeremy replies. _"I just hope we can trust her."_

She starts running to the tower and slowly phases into it.

"I have faith in her, Jeremy," I say. "Sure, she can be a pain sometimes, but I mean there have been times when she's shown she cares."

 _"I know."_

Looking at the tower, the tower's aura turns from red to blue.

 _"Well… we'll see what happens. Return to the past, now!"_

A big white bubble appears and engulfs everything, sending us back in time.

 _I just hope changing such a huge thing doesn't have any bad consequences later…_ I think.

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Done!

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Author's note: Yes, this chapter is mostly different from the episode. Why have I decided to make Sissi a Lyoko Warrior? There are a lot of times in the show when Sissi really wanted to help. Yes, she sold the Lyoko Warriors out the first time. BUT, Sissi has been absent a lot in this fanfiction whereas in the show you always see her. Putting Sissi in this fanfiction is going to help her become a better character. It's also going to help the plot of the story. The story is called "Changing Destiny: Lila's Journey." So, who's to say that Lila can't change Sissi's destiny for the better?

Sissi's outfit, powers, and weapon of choice were created by **AeroJester203.**

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As always,

Don't forget to review!

LyokoWarrior1994


	40. A Fine Mess

**Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is copyrighted by Moonscoop.**

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 _This chapter was written by me_. It was _edited_ _by_ **Blackcat8539** and **AeroJester203.**

I only own Lila. Mary is owned by **AeroJester203.**

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Author's Note: This chapter is going to be a tricky one to follow. To identify who will be speaking, keep in mind that 'Lila' = Sissi who is in Lila's body. I know I've mentioned in the past, no more covers… but for this chapter, I had to. I hope you like the new cover and enjoy!

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 _A Fine Mess_

 **Inside the scanner**

 **POV Lila's**

Opening my eyes, I find I'm back in the scanner. Looking down at myself, my eyes widen as the scanner doors open in front of me.

I scream.

 _"Sissi, what's wrong?!"_ Jeremy asks, and I register that it's not my own voice, only making me more panicked.

The remaining scanners open, revealing myself and Odd. Looking at my own body from a different scanner, I can't help but scream again.

"Sissi, stop with the screaming!" Ulrich tries to say over me, coming to my scanner with his ears covered. 'Lila' starts looking at her body, and she screams as well.

"Lila, what's wrong?" Odd asks, stepping towards the scanner my body's in.

I step out of my own and walk up to myself. 'Lila' meets me in the middle and we stare at each other.

"Um…" 'Lila' says while rubbing her arms nervously. "Lila?"

I nod confirming her suspicions.

"Sissi?" I enquire.

She nods, looking very shaken.

The scanners' doors close and reopen, revealing Yumi and Aelita.

"Another successful mission in Sector Five," Yumi states, "What's wrong, you two? You look like you've both seen a ghost."

"Um…. Einstein, I think we have a situation here," Odd admits.

"Why, what's going on?" Aelita asks. She looks at 'Lila' and then at me,

"Sissi, you seem okay."

"Aelita… it's me. It's Lila," I inform her.

Yumi blinks, "Huh? Come on Sissi, quit joking."

"Yumi, I think Sissi – er, I mean Lila - is telling the truth," Ulrich says.

Yumi and Aelita's eyes widen before they both turn to 'Lila'.

"Sissi, are you really in Lila's body?" Aelita asks her.

"Yes!" she exclaims. "This is an absolute nightmare!"

"Hey! I resent that!" I protest, crossing 'my' arms.

"Jeremy!" Odd calls before we can start arguing.

 _"Okay, okay. Everyone come up to the lab. I think I know what the issue is."_

All of us glance at each other.

 **Inside the lab**

"Well, what's the problem, Jeremy?" I ask him. 'Lila', Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, Aelita and I stand around his chair. We look at the monitors, and they show blinking X's over the images of our avatars.

"There was a… _slight_ hiccup during the re-materialization," Jeremy explains, and we watch our avatar's switch.

"Slight?" I ask, "you call this a 'slight hiccup' Jeremy?! This is a BIG hiccup!"

"Sissi–" he looks at me and I glare at him. "Uh, right. Sorry, Lila. There's a bug in the materialization program."

"What if they go back and try to devirtualize all over again? Would that work?" Odd asks.

Jeremy starts typing on the keyboard, bringing up our avatars and attempting to scan their data again, "And what if the program messes up again and they don't even have bodies next time?"

Rescanning the data, it confirms there is a bug when a red exclamation point flashes onscreen.

"Okay… bad idea," Odd admits.

'Lila' frowns, "So, now what do we do?"

"I've got to fix the program," Jeremy replies.

"How long do you think that will take?" Yumi enquires.

Ulrich hopefully asks, "A few hours, maybe?"

"Um… if I work through the night, it might be ready by tomorrow morning," Jeremy answers hesitantly.

"WHAT?!" 'Lila' loudly protests. "You mean to tell me that I'm going to have to stay in Lila's body until Jeremy can fix the problem?!"

Jeremy fixes his glasses to the bridge of his nose and turns to 'Lila'.

"Yes, that's right, Sissi." He then turns to me, "why don't the two of you compare notes so that no one raises suspicions about this situation? Does that sound like a plan?"

I huff, but reply, "Fine."

"Ditto," 'Lila' agrees, nodding.

"Don't you guys worry about it," Aelita reassures. "I'll be helping Jeremy tonight; everything will be fine by tomorrow morning."

"I hope so," I say.

"Same here," 'Lila' agrees. "The quicker I get back into my body, the better."

 **The next morning**

 **In the forest**

'Lila' pushes the manhole grate to the side before climbing out. I follow close behind her with Odd and Ulrich climbing up after me.

"Okay, so you usually see your father in the morning, right? Before classes?" I ask 'Lila'.

"Yeah," she confirms. "Also, I'm behind on my shower schedule, so if you don't mind?"

I sigh before moving on and giving her my own set of instructions, "Sissi, if you're going to go back to my room and live in it for a day, please don't touch anything—especially anything in my drawers, got it?"

'Lila' looks at me suspiciously, "Why not?"

"I have private things in there, including my diary!" I exclaim.

She rolls her eyes at me, "Alright, alright, I won't read it." Then she smirks playfully, "Although, technically, it's my diary right now."

"Ugh…" I complain before a thought hits me, "Oh, wait!"

'Lila', Ulrich and Odd look at me.

"My necklace. I need to carry that at all times, no exceptions," I explain

'Lila' shrugs and takes off the necklace. She hands it to me, and I place it around my neck, tucking it safely underneath my current body's shirt.

"Don't forget, make sure you shower," she reminds me. "I like to maintain my personal hygiene properly."

"Yes, yes, fine. Then I'll go and see your father," I say. I turn to Odd and Ulrich, "What about you two?"

"Odd, aren't you supposed to be breaking up with Claire?" Ulrich prompts him.

Odd's head lifts up at the information, "Oh yeah, that's right. I'm supposed to be breaking up with Claire... and Magali too."

"What?! You're going out with two girls?" 'Lila' asks bemusedly before giving a light laugh with a shake of her head. "Odd, I swear, you're such a player."

"I didn't know you were going steady with two girls. How are you going to figure this one out?" Ulrich asks.

"Magali and Claire didn't know either… that is, until now. It's fine, I'll figure it out," Odd replies as he pulls the grate back over the sewer entrance.

He looks at me hopefully, "Unless… maybe, you can?"

"Huh?!" I ask, "Why should I do that?"

"Well… we're friends, aren't we?" he tries, hoping to guilt me into helping him.

"Really, Odd, playing the friend card with me? Ugh…" I mutter, placing a well-manicured hand over my face. Sissi was always more image conscious than I was, and it's weird to have her dainty hands.

Getting my mind back on the subject at hand, I firmly reply, "No, Odd. I think you need to be the one to man up and handle the breakups. You're the one that cheated on them, you do it."

"But Lila-" Odd starts to say.

I shake my head, "Nope, sorry."

He sighs before turning to 'Lila,' "Sissi, could you-"

"Not a chance, Casanova," she replies with an amused smirk.

 **Later**

 **Inside the secretary's office**

I'm quietly waiting in a chair for Mr. Delmas to open his door in Sissi's usual attire. It was beyond awkward to both wash and dress this different body, one that belongs to someone I know.

"I'll send her in," the secretary says, cutting off my train of thought. I look at her to see she's just ending a phone call. Clearly, it had been with the principal.

"You can go in, Elisabeth," she informs me.

I glare at her, trying to act like Sissi, "You know I hate being called by that name."

"I know, but that's the name your father gave you. Must we go through this every morning?" she replies with a sigh.

 _I guess I'm doing a good job at pretending to be Sissi. I hope Sissi does the same,_ I think.

Shrugging, I get up from the chair and open the door before heading inside. Closing it behind me, I look at Mr. Delmas who is writing on a piece of a paper. He looks up at me as I go to sit on the chair across from his desk. I place Sissi's bag on the floor by my feet.

"Sissi, I'm a bit concerned, darling. I've heard from your friends that you're starting to spend time with Belpois, Stones, Smith, Stern, Ishiyama and Della Robbia. Are they being nice to you?" he asks with genuine concern.

I nod before I answer, trying to keep to Sissi's usual cadence, "Yes they are, daddy. You know me, always trying to fit in where I can."

He nods as well, "I know, which is why I'm concerned. It's true Belpois, Stones and Smith are in the top four of their class; Ishiyama also does extremely well in her classes even if she is late a few times. However, Stern is a D student at best, and Della Robbia, well he's…"

"Creative?" I suggest.

"Hmm, I suppose you could say that, but his creativity distracts him from doing well," Mr. Delmas explains.

"And what about me?" I ask him, though I'm not sure if I want to know the answer.

"As you know, your grades are D+'s. I expect you to do better now that you're hanging out with Belpois and his group," he says. "Before we know it, the term will have ended. It would be nice to see you improve before then."

I nod and grab Sissi's bag. Before I can leave, Mr. Delmas asks one last question, "Is there anything else?"

"No, should there be?" I ask, trying not to look too puzzled.

"Elizabeth, darling… I know it's difficult for you on the weekends. Staying with your mother isn't ideal to you, I know, but those were the terms of our divorce. I would like you to spend more time with her, besides locking yourself in the room half the weekend."

I look at Mr. Delmas, internally surprised by this but careful not to let it show on Sissi's face.

 _Sissi's parents are divorced? I didn't know that. Maybe there's more to her then meets the eye,_ I think.

"I don't really want to talk about it. Can I leave now?" I ask, figuring it's best to simply dodge the topic.

After a moment's hesitation, he nods and goes back to writing on his paper. Taking a quick look at him, I go over and give him a hug. Mr. Delmas smiles warmly at me.

 _It must be rough raising Sissi as a single father while also running Kadic,_ I think.

Letting go of him, I walk to the door. Reaching for the handle, I gasp in shock as I see Sissi's hand and arm turning translucent.

 _What's going on?!_ I think.

"Sissi, are you alright?" Mr. Delmas asks when he hears me.

My arm starts returning to normal and I try to keep calm.

"I-I'm fine," I lie before opening the door and hurrying out. "I just remembered some homework I have to do."

 **Later**

 **Under the arches**

Ulrich, Odd, Aelita, Jeremy and I are walking under the arches. I'm trying to tell them about what had happened earlier.

"It was really weird, and it only lasted for a few seconds, but I could see right through my arm and hand," I explain.

"Strange. I'll be a lot happier when both of you are back in your own bodies. I fixed the program, I just need to restart it from Lyoko," Jeremy explains to the group. Turning to me he continues, "We'll go to the factory during lunch time. Yumi can meet with us after."

"Really Einstein? During lunch? It's my favorite meal of the day!" Odd complains.

"It'll be less suspicious this way Odd," Aelita says.

Suddenly, I stop and gasp at the sight of 'Lila's' approach.

"My hair…" I mutter blankly.

Sissi has not only cut my hair from its shoulder blade-length to slightly above the shoulders in a long bob cut, she also dyed it to be a very bright red, practically a neon shade. The part is also slightly off from my usual central divide, the longer half held up by a purple barrette to keep it out of her eyes with the front strands on both sides tucked behind her ears, making a partial fringe that narrows as it goes up to my hairline.

She's wearing my jacket, but the shirt had changed to have a star on the center that peeked between the open halves and the jeans were ripped around the knees.

If she had kept the hair color the same and not cut the jeans, I might have even liked the change, but I'm still going to scold Sissi for drawing attention to herself while she's in my body. And it doesn't change the fact that Sissi dyed the hair on MY body without my permission.

 _I might have to keep it for a while so that people aren't suspicious about the sudden change! Who knows how long that hair dye will take to fade_! I rant in my mind before composing myself and storming up to my body with a heated glare.

"What have you done?" I yell at 'Lila'.

"I felt creative," 'Lila' explains as I reach her.

Jeremy, Aelita, Odd and Ulrich catch up to me.

"That wasn't your decision!" I retort. "You've completely ruined my hair! Now, I'm going to have to keep that color you put in! And it could be a matter of weeks, or months, for the dye to wear off!"

"Okay, so? Straighten your hair and keep it like this. What's wrong with that?" 'Lila' suggests.

I growl at her.

"Lila, maybe we should-" Jeremy is interrupted as Milly and Tamiya run up to 'Lila'.

"Wow, Lila! Love the new look! Can we get a picture for the Kadic paper?" Milly asks.

Before 'Lila' can answer, I protest, "No! She cannot!"

Milly and Tamiya turn to me.

"Why can't she, Sissi? Everyone is entitled to the press," Tamiya reminds me.

"I'm aware, it's just that 'Lila' likes her privacy. Right?" I pointedly direct the last part to the girl in question.

'Lila' looks at me and sighs, "Yeah, Sissi's right. I shouldn't be getting pictures taken today. Sorry, you guys."

Milly and Tamiya glare at me, practically infuriated, before they walk away.

"Sissi, why did you do that to Lila's body?" Jeremy asks quietly. "You couldn't have just, well, acted like her?"

'Lila' huffs, crossing her arms, "I'm very stressed, okay?! This morning something weird happened…"

"Let me guess, both your hand and arm started to disappear before suddenly reappearing?" I ask her.

"Yeah! How'd you know?"

"That happened to Lila too," Aelita answers, "This is bad, Jeremy."

"I know," Jeremy agrees.

"Maybe we should go now," Ulrich suggests. "It's not like we have a class."

Jeremy and Aelita look at him.

"He's right. Yumi's in class right now. I think she mentioned she had a math test, but we can call her after she's finished if we need her," Aelita says.

"Alright, let's go!" Odd exclaims, "If we hurry this up, maybe we can make it back in time for lunch."

"Odd, I swear you care way too much about food. It's not healthy," 'Lila' observes.

"I know, but I have a high metabolism. I burn off calories easily," Odd explains as we start making our way to the park.

"That explains why you're so scrawny," Ulrich teases.

"I'm not scrawny!" the blond protests. "I'm… svelte."

"Uh-huh," I say, recalling the definition. "I wouldn't say that 'slender' and 'elegant' are two words that really describe you Odd."

 **At the manhole entrance**

"So, what do you think the problem is Jeremy?" Aelita asks.

Jeremy crouches down to remove the manhole grate before he looks at her,

"Sissi and Lila have been materialized in bodies that aren't their own, so they aren't stable."

"And…?" Ulrich asks.

"If we don't take care of the problem immediately, their atoms might split," Jeremy replies before he starts to climb down.

'Lila' furrows her brow in confusion, "What the heck does that mean?"

Without stopping his descent, Jeremy answers, "Complete disintegration."

"You mean, like in _Star Wars_?" 'Lila' asks with a tinge of fear in her voice.

"Putting it tactfully, I think that's what he means," Odd answers, understanding the reference.

I shake my head, "If our bodies disintegrate, oh man..."

"We'll fix the problem before that happens," Aelita promises before she starts climbing down prompting the rest of us to follow.

 **Inside the lab**

The freight elevator doors open. Jeremy walks into the lab before turning back towards us.

"Head to the scanner room; I'm going to send you to the Ice Sector. Make sure Ulrich and Aelita go first, then Lila and Sissi," he informs us.

"Right," I confirm and press the red button. The freight elevator doors close.

 **Inside the scanner room**

Ulrich and Aelita immediately head to the scanners. Ulrich steps into the right-hand scanner and Aelita takes the one in the middle.

 _"You'll have to get to a tower due north from where you arrive. Aelita will reboot the program from that tower and this nightmare should be over,"_ Jeremy says. The scanners doors close.

"Say I wanted to ask you…" 'Lila' says as Jeremy starts up the virtualization process. "Why didn't you want Tamiya and Milly to take a picture of the new look I created?"

"Because, well, Sissi… it's complicated okay? I'm camera shy," I lie. While the others already know and she's been let in on the Lyoko secret, I don't really trust her with my other secret.

"Camera shy? You mean like stage fright?" 'Lila' asks.

"Yeah, and how did you modify my clothes, especially that star?" I ask her in an attempt to move past the topic.

"Oh… I borrowed one of my old shirts and a pair of jeans. I snuck into my room before going to yours. I hope you don't mind, I couldn't find an extra jacket like this one in yours and Aelita's closet, so I figured it was special to you."

"It is… thanks," I smile.

"No problem," she replies easily. "I might have been hasty, but I'd never ruin something like this jacket."

The scanners doors reopen.

 _"Ladies, I hate to interrupt your conversation but it's your turn_ ," Jeremy informs us.

"Okay, sorry, Jeremy," I apologize. I take the middle scanner. 'Lila' takes the left-hand scanner. The scanner doors close and I shut my eyes.

 _"Transfer: Sissi-"_ Jeremy begins before stumbling over his words. _"No wait, I mean Lila. No, er, uh- Ah, whatever. Transfer: 'Sissi'. Transfer: 'Lila'."_

The scanner's inner parts begin spinning.

" _Scanner: "'Sissi'. Scanner: 'Lila'."_

The scanner starts humming.

 _"Virtualization!"_

The scanner billows 'my' hair and my time machine necklace before I'm virtualized to Lyoko.

 **Lyoko's Ice Sector**

Opening my eyes, my vision returns in time to see 'Lila' and I fall through the air. We land safely and look at our Lyoko outfits. I look at her hair which has thankfully been kept with the original style it's red.

"I'm so jealous! Your outfit is so cool Lila!" 'Lila' exclaims, looking down at her armored dress.

Glancing at myself, I see that my time machine necklace has now changed into a shield-like amulet for some reason.

"I wonder if Sissi can use Lila's electrical powers, Jeremy? And why does Lila have a shield necklace around Sissi's body?" Aelita wonders.

" _Since she and Lila switched bodies, only Lila – who is in Sissi's body – can use Sissi's powers right now. If I'm right, Lila, I believe your necklace changes its form and adjusts the powers to what its wearer might need. Which means that since you're wearing it while you and Sissi switched bodies, you may have new additional powers,"_ Jeremy explains.

 _"However, I'd recommend you use your time machine necklace if you plan on using Sissi's slot bracer. The 'Lady Luck' ability costs 30 life points to activate and takes a while to recharge, and even if it did, it would use an additional 30 life points. Just be careful while using that ability Lila."_

He then addresses 'Lila', _"Sissi, since you're in Lila's body, I'm afraid that means you do not have the same electricity powers as Lila did. You do have a bow with a quiver full of arrows, and a hunting knife that's located inside a sleeve of the quiver. Here come your vehicles."_

Jeremy materializes our vehicles. 'Lila' gets on 'her' broomstick, I get on 'my' Overbike. Ulrich and Odd get on their vehicles. Aelita looks at Sissi and me.

"If it's all the same you two, I think I'll have Ulrich drive me," she says.

'Lila' and I nod agreeing that it's the best course of action. Aelita gets on Ulrich's Overbike and puts her hands on his shoulders. Odd and Ulrich take off, I rev up 'my' Overbike and take off on the icy path.

"Hey wait! How do I fly this thing?!" 'Lila' cries out.

"Kick it into the air and it'll take off," I call out. "Then lean your body to move it in a certain direction. If I'm right, you should hopefully be able to communicate with it since it's my body! Only if you really need to though!" I call out.

"Okay!" 'Lila' shouts back.

I catch up with Odd, Ulrich, and Aelita as we slow down to let 'Lila' catch up with us. She finally does so and the four of us continue down the icy path.

Aelita looks at 'Lila' then at me, concerned for our wellbeing. Odd flies his Overboard to 'Lila' and asks with a smile, "How's the broomstick treating you?"

'Lila' looks at Odd annoyed, and he simply smiles.

 **At the tower**

The four of us dismount our vehicles once we arrive at the tower.

"Be right back," Aelita says. She starts running over to the tower. Once she's closer she slows down before phasing into the tower's 'doorway'.

'Lila' looks at me, "So, once we're in our own bodies are you going to try and fix the hair?"

"I guess I'll have to stick with the red. I'll probably cut my hair bang a bit and brush it to one side. It's not that I don't like it, per se, but, it's- uh…" I trail off.

"Unique?" Odd supplies.

I nod, "Yeah, unique."

Suddenly, I see 'Lila' start to phase out. I glance down in horror as I notice my body doing the same. I almost sigh in relief when both of us phase back in. Before I can, the process starts all over again.

"I hope Aelita works quickly, this is turning into an emergency here," Odd observes.

'Lila' stares down at her flickering form fearfully, "Yeah, this is really bad."

Our bodies solidify back to normal just before several lasers come out of nowhere. Spotting a group of Kankrelats approaching, we immediately start to dodge their shots. Running over to 'Lila' I grab her and clasp the shield amulet in my free hand. It activates and surrounds us both with a spherical force field. Despite that, we keep moving to take cover behind an ice wall, the bubble traveling with us.

 _"Odd, Ulrich, protect Sissi and Lila,"_ Jeremy urges. _"Whatever happens, they cannot devirtualize. If that happens, then it's bye-bye for good."_

"We'll be careful!" I call back.

Odd and Ulrich continue to fight against the monsters that attacked us. Glancing at the tower I note that Aelita is still inside.

"Is there anything I can do?" 'Lila' asks. She peeks outside of the forcefield and around the side of the ice wall. A laser nearly hits her, but I pull her back just in time.

"If we can stick together inside the forcefield, your powers might help the others," I say. "I'd better activate it now."

Looking at the bracer with the empty slots, I shout, "Lady Luck!"

The slots start rotating and three symbols appear. One of them seems to be a spade, the next one is a heart and the third is a club. The last slot remains empty as they all lock-in.

"Okay, I've got them. Now what?" I ask 'Lila'. She looks at the bracer and shrugs.

"I don't know," she says, exasperated. "Instinct I guess."

Shrugging too, I lift the bracer up and look at the image of the spade. The first circle flares with a light. I generate three spade projectiles made of blue energy and they hover around me.

Taking 'Lila's' hand, we run from our cover and see Odd and Ulrich still fighting against Xana's monsters. There are four Kankrelats remaining, so I hold the hand with the bracer on it forward. But even though I meant to shoot one at a time, all three blue spades fly at the first Kankrelat.

As the sharp projectiles get closer, the creature spots them, but it's too late. The spades hit their target, sinking into the eye of Xana at different parts. Shorting out its attack, the Kankrelat then explodes. The other two fire at us and we move back behind the block of ice.

 _"Nice job, Lila; but remember you're down 30 life points,"_ Jeremy warns.

 _"You only have 70 left. Aelita should be finishing up shortly. Also, Sissi, for future reference keep in mind that your 'Lady Luck' ability is just that, luck. One day, your abilities might all be offensive and the next entirely defensive."_

"Okay, Jeremy, we understand. Sissi, here, use your baton," I instruct her. I take it out of the holder fastened to the belt.

'Lila' grabs the baton and pulls out my hunter's knife from its sleeve, "You should probably take this."

I nod in thanks before we both run out from behind our cover. Sticking close to each other we close in on one of the Kankrelats. Ulrich and Odd are busy with two more.

Once we are close enough 'Lila' expands her baton and twirls it at the Kankrelat, causing a huge gust of wind to fly at it. The wind manages to flip the creature over and completely disrupts its aim. It tries to right itself as we run up to it, but I get there first, the forcefield passing over it. Apparently, it stops laser fire, but not physical objects—good to know.

I thrust my hunter's knife into the eye of Xana and then quickly jump back, pulling 'Lila' with me. I smile in satisfaction as the Kankrelat explodes.

Looking over at Ulrich and Odd I watch as they attempt to handle the two Kankrelats.

Odd is currently running in circles around one of them and dodging laser fire while Ulrich is about to kill his. The latter uses his Super Sprint to dodge all the shots coming his way.

When he's close enough he jumps high into the air before bringing his Katana down in a thrust, piercing the creature so hard that it emerges from the other side and jams into the ice.

I take a second to squeeze the amulet and the shield disappears.

"Uh, guys? A little help here!" Odd calls, still running in circles.

Refraining from laughing, even though this is a comical sight, Sissi and I charge towards it.

Sissi holds her baton to the side and swings it once we reach the creature. This causes a gush of wind to fly at the Kankrelat and knock it off its feet. I grip my hunter's knife, getting it ready for an attack.

I run to the head of the Kankrelat where the eye is. Taking my hunter's knife, I thrust it into the weak point, yanking it back out as three of us back away and the Kankrelat explodes.

"Nice work," Ulrich compliments while pulling his sword out of the ice to sheathe it before making his way over.

Odd adds, "Yeah, thanks."

"No problem," I say.

'Lila' and I swap our weapons back to stow them in their proper spots.

Meanwhile, Aelita phases out of the tower and runs up to us.

"Hurry, we have to get to Sector Five," she says, reaching our position.

"Huh? Why?" I ask. "What happened to switching Sissi and I back?"

 _"I'll explain on the way,"_ Jeremy chimes in. _"Get on your vehicles. I've also called Yumi; she'll be joining you soon. Lila and Sissi, remember, if either of you devirtualize in Sector Five it could mean catastrophe. Hopefully, we'll get everything we need in time."_

"Right," I say.

 **Edge of the sector**

Reaching the edge of the sector, we disembark from our vehicles.

 _"Are you guys ready? I'm entering the code,"_ Jeremy informs us.

Looking up, the transport orb appears and starts descending towards us.

Suddenly, a loud noise clicks behind us and we all spin around to see where it came from.

"A Megatank!" Ulrich exclaims, unsheathing his katana. It had already opened up.

Using his Super Sprint, he runs up to it as the machine starts charging its laser wave. It releases its blast just as Ulrich thrusts his sword into the eye of Xana. Ulrich's body flies back and devirtualizes.

Just before the laser wave can reach us, the transporter orb opens and scoops us up.

 **Sector Five**

 **The arena room**

The Transporter Orb releases us, the arena room spinning as it always does when we arrive.

Glancing at 'Lila' her eyes start fluttering.

 _She's getting a vision much earlier than normal,_ I think. Out loud, I mutter,

"Wow… this is weird to see from the outside."

"She's going to be okay, right?" Odd asks.

"Yeah, she's having a vision like I would if I were in my own body," I reply.

"Just a bit earlier than usual."

Her eyes stop fluttering and she shakes her head, "What the heck was that?! And why do I feel like I have a map inside my mind now?"

 _"It's a long story Sissi."_ Jeremy explains. _"Just follow it and lead us to the key mechanism to end the countdown. Otherwise, this trip is going to be cut short."_

"Uh, right, okay," 'Lila' says uneasily.

The spinning stops and the walls align themselves to make a passage. The outer shell splits open to reveal more walls and we run to the new corridor about to open. The closed walls break apart and 'Lila' starts running with us right behind.

"Is Yumi on her way?" I ask Jeremy.

 _"Yes,"_ Jeremy answers _. She should be here any minute. I'll have her virtualized and hopefully, she can make it in time to provide backup."_

Following 'Lila', we run across a bridge. After crossing we reach a room and are greeted by a large empty space that's between us and the countdown key mechanism high up on the wall.

"Problem here," Aelita says.

"Xana's a pretty poor architect," Odd jokes. "He even forgot to put in floors."

"Xana will be sending his bots before long, and we're already on a time limit," I curse. "No chance of flying, unless…"

I trail off and look down at slot bracer, two of them still in their places. As I look at the club, the words "Club Dance" echo in my mind.

"This might work! Odd I'm going to have to throw you," I instruct. "Sissi, Aelita, stay close. I'll put up the force field."

"Okay…" Aelita trails off, unsure while Sissi draws my hunter's knife and holds it for a more secure feeling.

Pressing the time machine necklace, the force field surrounds me.

After we're enclosed by the sphere, I exclaim, "Club Dance!"

I start spinning like a ballerina, which is ironic since Sissi's Lyoko avatar is practically dressed like a cheerleader. Around 'my' body a green, club-shaped aura appears. Aelita gets behind me and Odd walks up to my side. As I spin faster, the forcefield still remains and the aura turns into a glow that encompasses my whole body, giving me a further boost in speed.

As I spin around and, I reach out and quickly grab his arm, clasping it with both hands. He yelps at the sudden pull as he's dragged along for the rapid twirling. Bending outward while still keeping my balance at full speed, I time the throw perfectly and put my whole body into it as I heave Odd as hard as I can. He lets out a short scream as he's launched into the air with flailing arms.

Aelita and I watch him with bated breath. When he reaches the other side, he manages to claw onto the middle part of the wall while catching his breath. He recovers a moment later and starts climbing with his paws and feet, he reaches the ledge and gladly climbs onto the floor of the other side. He coils his muscles tightly before jumping high into the air for the switch.

 _"You've got twenty seconds left! 19 – 18 – 17- 16-"_ Jeremy counts just as Odd presses his hand on the key mechanism, tripping it. It lights up and sinks into the wall, forming the eye of Xana.

The door opens on the other side, but the floors still aren't here.

 _"Nice job Odd! Fifteen seconds to spare!"_ Jeremy compliments him.

"Yeah, but I think I'll pass on Air Lila from now on," Odd calls from the other side. "Now what?"

I turn off my shield and we all ponder the question.

"We'll be sitting ducks if Lila and I attempt to go across," 'Lila' explains. "But Aelita, I think Lila might be able to swing you safely across as she did with Odd."

"Okay, Odd, stay there and protect them. I'll go to the data interface by myself," Aelita says.

 _"No way, Aelita!"_ Jeremy vehemently protests. _"With the Scyphozoa lurking around, that's too dangerous! I'll have Yumi meet with them; she's just arrived. You and Odd can go together. Lila can use the shield necklace she has to provide them with a little more protection."_

"Are you sure?" Aelita asks, looking at me.

I nod, "Yeah, let's get this show on the road before whatever this is wears off."

I use another spinning throw to get her across the gap. It's safe to say she was not happy about being tossed through the air, even if Odd managed to catch her.

"That was not fun," Aelita complains as Odd sets her down.

"Sorry, but no time to lose! You two can get going, we'll be fine," I call across the gap.

Aelita and Odd take off and run through the doorway, leaving the room. 'Lila' and I look at each other and sit down to wait.

 _"Yumi's on her way,"_ Jeremy says reassuringly. _"The Transporter Orb just dropped her off. Hang in there."_

"We'll try," I say.

'Lila' and I look at each other again, she smiles at me and glances at my necklace.

"You know Lila, that's a pretty neat necklace," she comments. "I do wonder why it has special abilities on Lyoko, though."

"Thanks, it's very special to me and maybe I'll tell you some day," I say.

Trying to rub her hand on her neck, it phases through, her whole body starting to turn a little translucent. A look at myself, confirms the same happening to me.

'Lila' stops and chuckles a little, "I forgot for a second. Oops." Then she winces, "Well, um, hey, I'm sorry about today. I didn't think cutting your hair and dyeing it bright red would make you that upset. I wasn't thinking."

"It's alright," I reassure. "When I talked to your father today, I realized how there might have been some things in your life that were difficult for you. I'm sorry… about the divorce."

It seems Jeremy turned off communication since he didn't comment, that or he's choosing not to and giving us some privacy to talk.

"Thanks," 'Lila' says. "It's not that I hate my mother or anything. I just like being here on campus. Sure, there were days when I thought the divorce was my fault. I was mean and even lashed out because of that. I took it out on the wrong people, including you guys."

She looks up in thought, "But… doing something meaningful, and with my friends now, it's helped me try to be a better person. Maybe I'll try to be better with my mother this upcoming weekend. Maybe I'll even go shopping with her—she likes doing that."

"Can't hurt to try," I smile slightly.

Our bodies start solidifying back to normal while 'Lila' smiles back. Just as we go back to normal, I see Xana Bots entering the room from a gap in the wall.

"Watch out!" I exclaim, pulling her down flat onto the ground, the lasers flying overhead.

Pressing the shield amulet as quick as I can, we're enveloped by the barrier once again. But the Xana Bots start focusing their fire on the force field, causing it to start cracking. Quickly, 'Lila' and I swap weapons once again. She presses the button on her baton, extending it twice its size while I brandish my hunter's knife.

The barrier shatters and the Xana Bots start firing directly at us. I use the hunter's knife to block a few of the laser strikes, reflecting them back at the flying spheres and forcing them to dodge. Sissi swings her baton horizontally, creating a strong wind to blow a few other blasts off course.

"You guys, I'm almost there!" Yumi calls from the corridor beyond the room.

"Just give me a few more seconds!" The Xana Bots continue to fire at us more rapidly now.

'Lila' and I continue trying to deflect the attacks, but it's not enough. Simultaneously, several lasers hit both of us separately.

"Lila! Sissi! _No_!" Yumi cries. It's the last thing we hear as we devirtualize.

 **Inside the scanner**

 **POV Sissi's**

Opening my eyes, I find that I'm back in the scanner and smile. I look down and let out a relieved sigh when I see my own body.

 _"Phew, we just made it in time with your code, Sissi,"_ Jeremy informs me over the speakers as the scanners doors open.

 **POV Lila's**

The scanners' doors open, and Sissi and I collapse down onto the floor. Exhausted and out of breath, but grateful we're back in our own bodies. The freight elevator doors open, and Ulrich runs over to us.

"Are you two okay?" he asks.

"Yeah. Tired, but we're okay," I reply, almost in disbelief.

Glancing at Sissi, I see she's wearing my time machine necklace. Getting up, we walk to the side of the room to give Odd, Aelita and Yumi more room for when they come back.

I look up and ask, "Jeremy, how are Odd, Yumi and Aelita doing?"

 _"Yumi's dealt with the Xana Bots,"_ he answers. _"She's on her way now to join Odd and Aelita at the data interface, from there Yumi and Odd will bring Aelita to the tower so that they can come home."_

"Glad to hear it," I reply.

"Oh, hey your necklace," Sissi says, taking off my necklace and handing it back to me. "Here you go."

I give her a genuine smile before slipping the necklace over my head,

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

 **The next day**

Shouldering my backpack, I'm walking to the cafeteria with my hair now straightened and having cut some of my hair bang off. It had grown long in retrospect, so I had cut some of it and then brushed the rest of my hair to my right side, so that it covers most of my forehead and just the top of one of my eyebrows.

 _It sucks that it's been cut and dyed, but I can forgive Sissi,_ I think. _I mean, I'm finally starting to understand her. I will miss my old look, though._

Looking at my pink magenta jacket, I have it zipped up along with my time machine necklace under my black t-shirt. I'm also wearing blue jeans that are not ripped. And NO pink socks like Sissi had me wearing yesterday, just regular white socks. She also got her barrette and clothes back too, I told her she could keep them since she "enhanced" them.

I still have my black and white tennis shoes, which I'm glad Sissi didn't mess up. I smile and make my way to meet the others in the cafeteria.

 **On the steps of the cafeteria**

Waiting for my friends, I put my left hand in my pocket and smile as I see them making their way over to me. Yumi is holding the school's newspaper, the Kadic Herald, as she smiles at it. I look over to Odd who doesn't seem very happy.

"What's wrong, Odd?" I ask him.

Yumi replies, "Oh, he's just not very happy about the Tamiya and Milly put in the newspaper."

"Although he did have it coming," Jeremy says.

"Whatever, I'm sure people will forget about it eventually," Odd says. He mumbles something and walks up the steps. I step to the side and he opens the door to the cafeteria before walking in.

"What exactly is in this newspaper?" Aelita asks.

Yumi hands the newspaper to Aelita as she then walks up the steps and into the cafeteria. Aelita giggles slightly at what she's reading, and Sissi walks up the steps.

"Hopefully, this will be a good lesson to not two-time anyone," Sissi says before she enters the cafeteria. Jeremy, Ulrich and Aelita start walking up the steps, and Aelita hands me the newspaper.

Looking at it as they go in, I chuckle lightly to myself. The picture in the newspaper reveals Odd in a nightshirt and boxers, apparently rocking out to some song he's listening to on his headphones.

 _I do feel bad that Odd is in his boxers on the front page, but hopefully this will teach him not to cheat,_ I think.

I fold the newspaper and place it under my arm, opening the door to the cafeteria. I walk inside the cafeteria, closing the door behind me.

* * *

Done!

* * *

Author's Note: If you would like the contact the info of my artist friend who drew this drawing, I'd be happy to give it to you with their permission of course. This was a really fun chapter to write and Sissi's character is only going to get better from here on and out.

If possible, please don't forget to visit my profile on vote on the poll for the continuation of the adventures of Lila Belpois. It will end on Ghost Channel. Certain diary entries have also been updated so it fits closer to the show.

* * *

Don't forget to review!

LyokoWarrior1994


	41. Xana's Kiss

**Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is copyrighted by Moonscoop.**

* * *

 _This chapter was written by me. It was edited by_ **Discordant Night.**

I only own Lila. Mary is owned by **AeroJester203.**

* * *

 _Xana's Kiss_

* * *

 **Inside Lila and Aelita's room**

 **POV Lila's**

Taking my pen I begin writing a new entry in my diary.

 _Dear Diary,_

 _Jeremy and the others have gotten their letters from Cameron. Odd was happy to hear from him and how Cameron missed the food here in France, it made Odd laugh._

 _I also received a letter from Cameron. He told me his nightmares went away a while ago, which is good. And that he misses me._

 _When responding to his letter via text, I told him that I hope that he is well and that I miss him too. I haven't heard from him since though. I feel bad that we kicked him out of the group, but what else were we supposed to do?_

 _I know Aelita mentioned she received a letter from Cameron… but she threw it out. She doesn't want to talk or see him any time soon. I can't say I blame her… I won't pretend to understand that I know how she's feeling. I don't._

 _Anyways, I'm going to meet with Aelita and Jeremy. See ya. Lila._

 **Afterwards**

 **Under the arches**

After meeting Jeremy and Aelita in Jeremy's room, the three of us are now walking under the arches. As we walk past the arches and towards the courtyard, Heidi strides purposefully up to us. She's wearing a light purple dress, the color similar to the jumper dress Aelita wears over her pink hoodie. She has short blonde hair and black eyes and is just a few inches taller than Aelita and me.

"Jeremy, would you mind telling me why you kissed me in front of Odd?" Heidi asks, crossing her arms. We look at Jeremy in shock.

"Huh?" my father blinks, surprised. "What are you talking about?" Jeremy asks, putting his hands in his pockets. He looks directly at Heidi. "Are you out of your mind?" She scoffs as she walks away. Aelita walks away from us.

"Aelita!" Jeremy exclaims. He turns to me and I look at him.

"You know I didn't kiss Heidi, right?" Jeremy asks.

"I… I know. I better go and catch up with her," I reply unsurely. I start running to catch up to Aelita.

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside the cafeteria**

Aelita and I are getting breakfast. We move in line to get our tray our food.

"Are you okay Aelita?" I ask concerned. She simply nods. I can tell she isn't okay.

 _Jeremy… I want to believe you didn't kiss Heidi. The man I knew who raised me, my father, loved Aelita. And I know you're still young Jeremy… but you should know by now how much Aelita is in love with you. If you did kiss Heidi... just what were you thinking?_ I think.

Grabbing our trays of food, we take our seats at our usual table. Aelita doesn't really talk much or eat much for that matter. Taking my phone out, I type in a text.

 _Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?_ I ask. Aelita seems to have gotten my message, as she takes out her phone and looks at it. She puts her phone back into her pocket, then shakes her head. I sigh, as I begin to eat my food, which consists of just croissants. I then take a sip of my tea.

Ulrich, Odd, and Sissi soon arrive and sit down at the table. Odd and Sissi are sitting on the same side as they usually do.

"Hey everybody," Jeremy says. He also has a tray of croissants and a bowl of what I assume is dipping sauce. I turn to look at him. "Slide over and make me some room."

"Don't you want to sit with Heidi?" Odd asks. He chews his croissant angrily and points to the girl in question. "She's all by herself," Odd remarks cryptically.

Jeremy looks to Heidi, then crosses to our side of the table and sits down next to me, setting his tray on the table. Odd begins sipping his dipping sauce.

"Listen I don't know what this is all about," Jeremy begins, "but I swear to you I-"

Aelita sighs, cutting him off as she pushes her chair back and gets up. She looks down at me.

"Are you coming Lila?" she asks. Looking at Jeremy, I sigh sadly and get up with her.

 _This is so conflicting…_ I muse.

Aelita and I leave the table and make our way to the entrance of the cafeteria.

 **Outside the cafeteria**

Aelita and I are about to walk down to steps as the doors open up. Ulrich, Sissi, and Odd start walking down the steps with us. William comes up from the side, nearly knocking us down as he hurries… somewhere.

"Hey Ulrich, I'm glad I ran into you," William pants. "I'd wanted to tell you, in case you haven't heard the latest news, that Yumi is going out with Mathias Burrel." He pauses, then adds, "I know you had a thing for her." My eyes widen hearing that news. Ulrich is shocked by the news himself; it's amazing that he isn't dropping his croissant in the process.

"Morning everyone," Yumi greets, choosing that moment to approach. She walks up to us and takes Ulrich's croissant. "Hey thanks, Ulrich," she says, pretending to eat the croissant.

"So you really like Burrel do you?" Ulrich asks, crossing his arms.

"He's a nice guy," Yumi answers. "Why?" she asks.

"How does he kiss huh?" William asks.

"Kiss? How should I know?" Yumi asks.

"You can stop the acting Yumi, William saw you," Ulrich says. He walks away in a huff.

William nods as Yumi shoots him a confused look. "I saw you," he says. "I know I did." With a shrug, he walks away.

I want to hear Yumi's side of the story, but I rush to catch up to Aelita, Odd, and Sissi. Ulrich is going to need us.

 **Afterwards**

 **In History class**

Sissi mentioned she had to grab a notebook from her room. She's really been trying to do better in her classes. The bells ring, signaling it's time for class just as Sissi enters the room with her notebook and a pencil. I can tell she looks upset about something. She goes to an empty chair next to me and sits down.

"Last time we were discussing the causes for World War 1," Mr. Fumet, our history teacher says.

Ulrich makes his way to sit next to Jeremy. Odd and Aelita start walking down and make their way to me when:

"Aelita can we talk?" Jeremy asks.

"We're in class," Aelita replies softly before she and Odd squeeze pass Sissi and I to sit next to each other. I turn to Sissi, and even though she's writing notes I notice she's upset about something.

"What's wrong?" I whisper.

 _I really should be paying more attention in this class considering it's my worst subject… ironic huh? I'm a time traveler and I don't know squat about Earth's history. But my friend is more important than class right now,_ I think.

"Ulrich… he um…" Sissi trails off in a whisper. "He kissed me in front of Yumi, just as I was making my way to the classroom."

"He… he did what?" I whisper.

"Please don't make me say it again," Sissi blushes furiously, embarrassed. "All of you know I swore off Ulrich the second I joined the group. That was part of my agreement with Yumi and I've been holding up to it. That is until what he just did… now she thinks that I let him kiss me," Sissi explains. I look over to Ulrich, who is talking to Jeremy. He notices me looking at him and he looks at me.

"And so, my question is this: when did Ganymede die?" Mr. Fumet asks. Looking at him, he puts his chalk back on the chalkboard. He turns to us.

"Well, class? I'm waiting," Mr. Fumet says. None of us answer him, and he then says: "Ulrich, when did Ganymede die?" Ulrich is caught off guard by Mr. Fumet calling him out. He looks at him.

"Well um…. At the end of his life?" Ulrich asks. I can't help but chuckle lightly, as he's technically right. The rest of the class laughs, Sissi included. It's good to see her smiling, even if it's from the same guy who kissed her.

 **After class**

Zipping up my backpack, I sigh internally; I didn't take as many notes as I planned to today. I feel so bad for Sissi. Given she did mess up my hair and everything…. Why would Ulrich do that? And in front of Yumi too?

 _This just doesn't make sense,_ I think. Pulling my backpack off the floor and shouldering it, I'm one of the few people to leave the class last – besides Jeremy. He walks up to me silently, and it's kind of awkward as the two of us walk outside the classroom together.

Once we're outside, and under the arches, we start looking for Aelita. Spotting her pink hair is pretty easy, even if there are a lot of students walking about.

However, Jeremy and I are both surprised because we see Aelita pulling Nicholas in for a kiss!

 _Ew… Aelita… what on earth are you doing?!_ I think, shocked beyond belief. Aelita lets go of Nicholas, she sees us and runs off. Jeremy and I look at each other in disbelief.

"Did you see that?" Jeremy asks.

"I did… and I can't believe it. Jeremy, I'm sorry. Everyone has been getting kissed by someone else, and I didn't think Aelita would stoop this low… No, I'm sure she wouldn't," I reply.

"Then what do you call it?" Jeremy asks.

"I… I don't know," I reply.

Jeremy sighs. "I'm going back to my room," he mutters and starts walking toward the dormitory. There's no reason not to, so I walk along with him. We continue walking until we reach the building, he goes upstairs, and I decide to head over to Sissi's room.

 **Outside Sissi's room**

Having left my backpack in mine and Aelita's room, I knock on Sissi's door. She opens it and appears to have been crying. It looks like some of her makeup has been ruined.

"Sissi… what's wrong?"

"I've tried apologizing to Yumi about Ulrich kissing me. I tried to explain to her that Ulrich who kissed me first, but he says he didn't kiss me at all! He won't even own up to it and it's really upsetting!" Sissi exclaims.

"Can I come in?" I ask. Sissi nods and moves to the side of the door allowing me to go in. She closes the door. Taking my backpack off, I set it on the floor. The place hasn't changed much, which is saying something; it's been ages since I've been in this room.

 **Flashback**

I opened the drawers one by one. They were filled with romance books, a few notebooks for class, which surprised me. And, a few pens, but no diary. Yumi gasped and I turned around. Yumi held a pillow in the form of a valentine's heart and gasped.

 _"Looks like we found it!"_ she exclaimed. I walked to the bed, sitting on the bed with her. I noticed that the diary is pink with a yellow pattern on it.

 _"Nice job,"_ I complimented.

 _"Thanks,"_ Yumi smiled unzipping the pillow. She took the unmarked diary out of the pillow. The diary looked to be pink and had a yellow pattern on it.

" _Something tells me that's not Ulrich's,"_ I said, as I giggled slightly.

 _"Ooh, you're right… definitely, Sissi's,"_ Yumi nodded, she chuckled herself.

 **End of flashback**

I look over to Sissi's bed seeing the same pillow from back then.

 _I can't help but wonder if she still keeps her diary in there?_ I think.

"Lila… everything okay?" Sissi asks. I look at her.

"Oh sorry, drifted off there for a second," I wave away my flashback. "Can we sit on the bed, and maybe you can tell me why you're sure it was Ulrich that kissed you?" I ask. Sissi nods. She and I go to her bed, and we sit down.

Looking to her pillow, she goes over to it and pulls something out of it. I'm surprised to see that her diary is still in there; then again, I've kept my diary in my drawer for ages.

Sissi opens the diary.

"I um… used to keep this old photo of Ulrich, I took from him a while back, in here, but I returned it to him see?" Looking at the page I see an entry has been crossed out, and even the photo Sissi had of Ulrich in there is no longer there.

"Okay. So I believe you didn't kiss Ulrich back. Then if that's really the case, why would he go through so much trouble of kissing you?"

"I'm not sure. I've known Ulrich since elementary school and he's never been that…" She trails off, searching for the right word. "Petty," Sissi finally blurts.

"Yeah…" I deadpan. "Aelita kissed Nicholas earlier, and…" I trail off, shuddering.

"She did?!" Sissi exclaims.

"Yeah. The only person who hasn't been seen kissing someone close to us in the group is me," I say.

"Okay… and why is that?" Sissi asks.

"Well…" I trail off.

 _I can't really tell her they're all like family to me. Aelita and Jeremy excluded since they actually are my family,_ I think.

"For starters, I've only ended things with Cameron. He was in the group and a Lyoko warrior… before we had to kick him out," I say.

"Cameron? Cameron Jones was a Lyoko Warrior?" Sissi asks.

"Yeah. But that's another story for another day. I just wish I knew why this was happening," I sigh.

Sissi sighs too.

 _It's a good thing Xana- OH. Oh… no,_ I think.

"Sissi… we've all been so stupid! I can't believe I didn't notice it before!" I exclaim.

"Notice what? Why have we been stupid?" Sissi asks, closing her diary. She pushes it back in her pillowcase and zips the case up.

"None of you have claimed they've kissed the other because you didn't!" I burst out. "Sissi, don't you see? it wasn't Ulrich that kissed you! It wasn't Yumi that kissed Mithais, and it wasn't Jeremy that kissed Heidi! It was-" I start to ramble on but Sissi makes the realization.

"It was Xana? That… that would make sense!" she exclaims.

"We need to go! Now! Did Odd say anything as to where he might be right now?" I ask. Sissi nods.

"Yeah, he told me he'll be in the woods with Yumi and Ulrich. He believed I didn't kiss Ulrich, but he wasn't so sure about Ulrich kissing me will really clear things up."

I nod. "Yeah, it will."

 **Afterwards**

 **In the woods**

Sissi had cleaned up her makeup just before we left, and Jeremy had met us about half way in the park, just as we were heading towards the woods. Now the three of us are running to the others, and we finally spot them. Reaching them, Jeremy, Sissi and I catch our breath. Yumi and Odd lean against the tree, while Ulrich is on the ground with his arms crossed; he's still upset. Jeremy pushes his glasses to the bridge of his nose.

"Right I can explain everything. All of this kissing is another one of Xana's schemes that-" Jeremy starts to explain but Odd interrupts him.

"That doesn't make any sense. Xana hasn't taken control of us for a while," Odd says.

"Just listen to what he has to say," I tell him.

"Look I know I didn't kiss Heidi, so there must be a Jeremy clone somewhere," Jeremy says.

"And a Yumi clone," Yumi adds.

"And an Ulrich clone also," Ulrich smiles slightly, it seems he's agreeing to Jeremy's hypothesis.

Jeremy walks up to Yumi and Odd. Sissi and I walk to them as well. Ulrich gets up and walks to us.

"Right, and I bet they're just one big polymorphing clone," Jeremy surmises.

"A poly what?" Sissi and Odd ask in unison. They look at each other and smile.

"Jinx, you owe me a soda," they say in unison. They laugh a little then let Jeremy speak again.

"As I was saying, a polymorphing clone. It can change its appearance at will. Xana must have sent a ghost that can look like anyone it wants to."

"And this ghost couldn't replicate someone I like, and make me jealous, because Cameron is back home. That's why I was never spotted kissing anyone," I add.

"Okay, that makes sense. But why would it do all of this?" Ulrich asks. Yumi leans closer to him.

"To make trouble in our group. To divide and conquer," Yumi replies. She pulls away from him.

"That is really smart," Ulrich says. "Not like us."

"I guess Odd was right," Jeremy says. "Jealousy makes people crazy," Odd starts walking to the grate.

"Listen we've got to Lyoko to solve this. Hey, where's Aelita?" Odd asks and reaches the grate.

"Gone," Jeremy answers.

I look at him.

"Gone? What do you mean she's gone?!" I exclaim.

"It… it was my fault," Jeremy admits.

"Oh bravo!" Yumi exclaims, crossing her arms. "Where did she go?"

Jeremy thinks about it for a second,

"I think I might know."

"Okay, then where?" Sissi asks.

"The only place she would go… the Hermitage," Jeremy replies.

"That makes sense. Let's get going," I say.

"No, I need to get there first. Just give me a chance to talk to Aelita, so that I can explain things," Jeremy says.

"Okay, we will," I nod.

 **Afterwards**

 **Outside the Hermitage**

After giving Jeremy some time to talk to Aelita we finally arrive at the Hermitage only to find two Jeremy's. One is next to Aelita, his hands on his hips, and another Jeremy just across from them, with his hands on his hips.

"Don't listen to him Aelita, I'm the real Jeremy," the Jeremy across from Aelita and other Jeremy claims.

"If I've got this straight, one of these two is the poly dorking clone right?" Odd asks.

"Polymorphing clone Odd," I correct.

"Aelita trust me," the Jeremy across from them pleads.

"Don't listen to him, I'm the real Jeremy. You know I am. I kissed you," the Jeremy close to Aelita says. He's holding her hand and Aelita realizes something.

"That's right," Aelita starts to say and points over to who I now know is the real Jeremy. "The real Jeremy would not have kissed me like that."

The polymorphic clone's eyes pulse with the Xana symbol, ruining the illusion. He walks up to Aelita and grabs her hand, then begins to pull her away from us.

"Keep your hands off her!" Jeremy exclaims. All of us together run to Aelita and try pulling her back to us. Odd jumps on us and then jumps down to polymorph Jeremy, who starts frizzing in and out. Odd gets up hastily, while Aelita shouts.

"Quick, to the factory!"

"You guys go on, I'll take care of him," Odd insists, making a fist. Nodding, the five of us go to the door that leads to the sewers. Sissi follows us, as this will be her first time using this entrance. Aelita opens the door, and she's the first one to run down the steps. Jeremy, myself, Sissi, Ulrich, and Yumi follow.

"Wow this place is convenient," Sissi says, as we go to our riding equipment. She brought her bike down here, after her first mission. She grabs her bike while Aelita, Jeremy and I grab our scooters, and Ulrich and Yumi grab their skateboards. We take off. Sissi starts pedaling her bike and asks:

"Hey Jeremy, I don't suppose you ever got around to making a vehicle for me?"

"I did actually," Jeremy replies. "I didn't have a chance to tell you because of all this kissing nonsense."

"Xana sure did pull a fast one on us. I'm sorry Sissi, I should have believed you when you said you didn't kiss Ulrich," Yumi says.

"Thanks, Yumi, and I owe you an apology too Ulrich," Sissi says.

"No don't, I'm the one that should be apologizing. Like Yumi said, we should have believed you," Ulrich says. Sissi smiles, and I can't help but smile too.

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside the lab**

The freight elevator's doors open, as we've arrived in the lab.

"Head for the scanners," Jeremy instructs. Jeremy walks out of the freight elevator.

We nod. Sissi presses the red button and the freight elevator's doors close. The freight elevator descends.

 **Inside the scanner room**

The freight elevator's doors open. The scanners already opened, Yumi, Ulrich, and Aelita go into them. Ulrich takes the right one, Yumi takes the middle one, and Aelita takes the left one.

" _I'm launching the virtualization process. Sissi, Lila, you two will need to go last,"_ Jeremy says.

"Right," I say. Sissi looks at me and smiles, she seems ready to use her new vehicle.

" _Transfer: Aelita, Transfer: Ulrich, Transfer: Yumi."_

The scanners start to hum.

" _Scanner: Aelita, Scanner: Ulrich, Scanner: Yumi."_

The scanners continue humming.

" _Virtualization!"_ Jeremy exclaims.

The virtualization process is complete, and the scanners reopen. Sissi takes the middle scanner and I take the right scanner. The scanners close.

 **Lyoko's Desert Sector**

Sissi and I land on the ground.

" _The tower isn't very far away. North, Northeast,"_ Jeremy informs. Looking for it, we see a tower not too far from it. Aelita points to it, as it is across a bridge connecting two of the desert plateaus.

"There! Across the bridge," Aelita says. She starts running and we start running too.

"I better activate it now when I get the chance. Lady luck!" Sissi exclaims. Looking at her bracer, the reels start spinning and three symbols appear in three slots, leaving the fourth one empty. We stop running when Sissi seems confused and looks up.

"Jeremy, what's the symbol of a joker mean?"

 _"A Joker symbol? Well since these powers of yours act like the card game, a joker card in some games can be good. It could be the wild card, and something good like say using all of your powers at once can happen. But from what I can tell, it seems this symbol, this time, is meant to bring you bad luck. It looks like you'll need to wait until your bracer recharges so you can activate your Lady Luck ability again. But remember, that will cost you an additional 30 life points bringing you down to 40,"_ he explains.

"Dang it! I guess I'll need to rely on my trusty baton for now," Sissi says and we resume running.

Getting closer to the bridge, Yumi is suddenly hit by a laser. Aelita is shocked as Yumi is thrown off balance, but she quickly recovers by placing both of her hands on the ground and jumps back up. She lands on the ground and starts running.

"Sissi, Lila, get Aelita to the tower. I'll take care of them," Ulrich says, unsheathing his Katana blade. Sissi and I start running closer to Aelita. We continue running and the three of us get closer to the bridge. Hearing lasers going off where we left Ulrich and Yumi.

" _Xana's sending a monster,"_ Jeremy warns.

Looking back I see Ulrich and Yumi are dealing with and a handful of Hornets, as well as a Tarantula that's just finished materializing. I look ahead, and as we start reaching the bridge when it suddenly disappears.

"Great, what do we do now?" Sissi asks.

"We could jump," Aelita replies.

"No way, that's too much of a risk. Jeremy materialize mine and Sissi's vehicles, we're going to need them," I say.

" _Right. Vehicles materializing,"_ Jeremy says.

My broomstick materializes along with Sissi's new vehicle. I'm surprised to see it's similar to Ulrich's Overbike. In fact, I think the vehicle is based off it because the only difference with Sissi's is that it's completely white but has some pink stripes on it.

"I like it," Sissi says. She gets onto her Overbike and revs it up. "Come on Aelita."

Aelita nods, and I get onto my broomstick. Kicking my broomstick in the air, we take off. I see that Sissi's Overbike is leaving a trail of pink behind it, Aelita holds onto Sissi's waist.

"Just be careful Sissi," Aelita says, concerned. We continue flying over where the bridge was, and begin making our way to the plateau.

"I will. Hopefully, we won't have any trouble-" Sissi is cut off by several lasers that nearly hit us. I glance behind me to see that a few of the Hornets have split off from Yumi and Ulrich.

"Great, you were saying? Look get Aelita to the tower, Sissi and I will deal with them," I say.

"Right. Aelita, hang on!" Sissi exclaims.

"You're not going to-" Aelita is about to say but Sissi revs up her Overbike and takes off. I guide my broomstick to turn around, and as it does, I quickly grab the hunter's knife from its sleeve. I urge the broomstick to fly forward and to the Hornets.

" _Lila be careful. Remember those Hornets can shoot acid!"_ Jeremy reminds me.

"I know!" I exclaim. Taking the hunter's knife in one hand, I use my hand to channel electricity into my gauntlet so that it flows into the hunter's knife. The Hornets start charging their lasers, and I continue channeling the hunter's knife with electricity. My lightning bolt glows, as the hunter's knife is engulfed with yellow electricity.

The Hornets fire off their lasers. I block them one by one, redirecting them to the Hornets. One laser hits one Hornet, the second laser hits another Hornet. And the last laser misses the Hornet. Guiding the broomstick, I circle it around as I aim the electrically charged hunter's knife at the Hornet. Drawing it back, I throw it. The extra juice in the hunter's knife gives it a boost as it flies quickly through the air and hits the target eye. The Hornet explodes and the hunter's knife falls to the ground out of reach.

"Sissi!" Aelita exclaims. Turning to Aelita, I see another Tarantula firing at Sissi, who appears to no longer have a vehicle. Twirling her baton, which has extended twice its size, Sissi generates a gust of wind as she manages to use the wind to redirect the lasers away from her and Aelita. She manages to redirect more than a couple, but the remaining lasers hit Sissi who is knocked off her feet and is devirtualized in a cloud of pixels.

"Lila, I need help!" Aelita calls out to me.

 _Broomstick get there quickly!_ The broomstick takes off quickly. I see the Scyphozoa now approaching Aelita, and she turns to it.

"Jeremy! Lila! Someone please!" Aelita exclaims. My broomstick continues to fly to Aelita. The Scyphozoa is about to take hold of Aelita with its tentacles, but I'm determined to make sure it doesn't.

Quickly taking my bow off its hook, I grab an arrow from my quiver. Putting the arrow on my bow, I hold it and I pull the drawstring back. Aiming the arrow at the Scyphozoa's tentacles, I release the arrow. The arrow flies into the air and towards the Scyphozoa.

I then nock another arrow on my bow. Pulling the drawstring back, I aim the arrow at the Tarantula's head. I release the arrow and let it fly. The first arrow hits the tentacles of the Scyphozoa, causing the Scyphozoa to screech. It pulls away from Aelita. The second arrow then hits the target eye and the Tarantula explodes.

 _It seems these arrows are more powerful than my old fire bolts,_ I think. The Scyphozoa starts heading for Aelita again and she starts backing up.

"No, you don't!" Ulrich exclaims as I see him Super Sprinting over the empty space. Commanding my broomstick to go to Aelita, it does so. Ulrich gets to where Aelita and the Scyphozoa are, and I get to Aelita's side. Ulrich Super Sprints to the Scyphozoa as he then takes out his Katana blade and swings it at its tentacles. The Katana blade hits the Scyphozoa's tentacles, cutting them off, and it screeches. It makes a full retreat and Ulrich puts his Katana back into its sheath.

" _Aelita quick. Sissi's polymorph is-"_ Jeremy is about to say but is interrupted. Aelita looks at us and we nod. She starts running to the tower, and then slowly walks in. She phases into the tower's 'doorway.'

"Nice work," Ulrich compliments.

"Thanks, you too. Let's hope we make in time," I say. Getting off my broomstick, Ulrich and I watch the tower's aura turning from red to blue. We take a collective sigh.

"Jeremy, is everything okay?" I ask hopefully.

Ulrich and I see Aelita phasing out of the tower. Jeremy finally responds:

" _Yeah we're a bit roughed up but I'm okay. I'm going to bring Ulrich in first. Aelita, there's a way tower nearby. You don't mind bringing her to it, do you Lila?"_

"Of course not," I say. I get onto my broomstick, and Aelita gets on with me.

" _Materialization: Ulrich,"_ Jeremy says.

Ulrich devirtualizes and I kick my broomstick into the air. I fly it to the way tower so I can bring Aelita home.

 **Afterwards**

 **By the vending machine area**

Jeremy is sitting on the garden ledge, Ulrich is kicking back against the wall with one foot on the garden ledge. The rest of us are standing.

"So how strong was the Sissi clone?" I ask.

"Pretty strong actually," Yumi replies.

"Odd, how'd you know I wasn't the clone?" Sissi asks Odd.

"Because you called me dork. Xana would never call me that. He's got too much… respect for me," Odd replies.

Jeremy chuckles a little,

"Oh no. Xana just doesn't know you as well as Sissi does." He laughs a little bit. I smile a bit at that. I look to Aelita as she seems to be thinking about something.

"Jeremy?" Aelita asks. Motioning her hand, she walks a little bit away from us.

"Would you come with me for a minute?" she asks. Jeremy gets off the ledge and walks to Aelita. Sissi, Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, and I look at her.

"Um, I'd like to check something. Do you mind?"

"Uh no, go ahead. Check what?" Jeremy asks. Aelita grabs Jeremy's head and to my surprise, and I think Jeremy's as well – she pulls him for a kiss. The kiss lasts a few seconds and Aelita puts her hands in her pockets. Jeremy seems to be in shock.

"I knew it," Aelita says smiling. She walks away from us.

"Uh Jeremy, come back down to earth," Odd says. Jeremy seems to be unresponsive.

"Let's hope that Xana leaves us alone for a little while. I think Jeremy is going to need some time to get over that one. Huh guys?" Odd asks. All of us start laughing, as we can't help but agree.

 **Later**

 **Outside Sissi's room**

Knocking on the door, Sissi opens it.

"Oh hey, Lila. Did you need something?" Sissi asks.

"Um see the thing is… I think there's something I should tell you. It's about one of our old missions," I reply.

"Okay. Come on in," Sissi says. Sissi moves to the side, and I walk into her room. She closes the door. She and I go to her bed, and we sit on it.

"So what's this about?"

"Do…" I hesitate. "Do you remember the time when you stole Ulrich's diary?"

Sissi nods.

"Yeah, I do. But Ulrich found it somehow, even though I hid it in the girl's bathroom. Like he already knew it was there. Why?"

"Well… I have a confession to make. There's a reason why I drifted off when I came into the room earlier," I say.

"Okay… so tell me," Sissi says.

"Right okay…" I trail off as I begin to tell Sissi what really happened that day.

 _I know you're starting to become a different person from back then. At the very least… you should know this if we're going to continue being friends. I feel like I owe you this, even if you did dye my hair red,_ I think.

* * *

Author's Note: I hoped everyone liked that chapter. Please don't forget to go onto my poll and vote on the Adventures of Lila Belpois's fate. No, Yes, it helps me decide if I should continue the filler arc. I want to thank my readers too, as of last night we hit just over 11,000 views! Thank you, and until the next time!

* * *

Don't forget to review!

LyokoWarrior1994


	42. Vertigo

**Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is copyrighted by Moonscoop.**

* * *

This chapter was written by me. It was edited by **Blackcat8539.** It was also edited by **Discordant Night.**

* * *

I only own Lila. Mary is owned by **AeroJester203.**

* * *

 _Vertigo_

* * *

 **Sector Five**

 **Arena Room**

 **POV Lila's**

The Transporter Orb opens, dropping us in the Arena room. The Transporter Orb leaves, as the floor and the room starts spinning.

 _"Welcome to Sector Five,"_ Jeremy greets.

"The wall is going to open up any second now," Yumi says. We continue to look at the spinning room.

"And when it does, we'll be ready," Sissi replies determinedly.

"I take it you got some good symbols?" I ask her.

"Yup sure do!" Sissi beams. "The last time I used this, Lady Luck failed me. But I'm ready this time!"

The floor and room stops spinning, and the wall opens up.

"Let's go!" I say. We start running and run into the doorway. Running passed the doorway, we reach the second set of walls. The walls open up, in a brick formation.

 _"Three minutes to find the key, go!"_ Jeremy urges.

We race down the steps, and -surprisingly- reach the new room quickly.

 _With the rooms always changing in this place, it's hard to know where to look for the key! And I hope my vision comes soon otherwise we're going to be sitting ducks!_ I think worried.

The floors start rising as certain walls reposition themselves.

"Uh oh, the doors are in the wrong place," Odd says.

The floors having risen fully, we see five Xana Bots positioned high up on each floor.

"And here come our old friends: Xana Bots. You know these little pests are-" I begin, but then my eyes start fluttering.

 **POV Sissi's**

As Lila goes stiff with her vision, I shout. "Defend Lila! Odd and I got them!"

Ulrich and Yumi are about to object but they nod and take cover for Lila. Aelita runs with them, as Ulrich and Yumi guard the two of them. Ulrich draws his Katana, Yumi takes out her Tessen Fans out, she opens them. Odd runs over to me and starts cocking his paw, readying his Laser Arrows.

The Xana Bots start charging their lasers, but I quickly begin conjuring my spades. A blue light flares from my bracer and I generate three spades.

Holding up my hands, I thrust them forward and let the spades fly quickly at three of the five Xana Bots before they have a chance to release their lasers. The three Xana Bots explode.

"Laser Arrows!" Odd exclaims, firing off two Laser Arrows at the remaining two Xana Bots. One of his Laser Arrows hits the fourth Xana Bot's target eye, and it explodes.

 **POV Lila's**

I shake my head and see Ulrich and Yumi are guarding Aelita and me. I see Odd's Laser Arrow miss the last remaining Xana Bot, as it dodges it and restarts in charging its' laser.

"I know where the key is! I'll get it!" I exclaim.

 _"You only have two minutes left, hurry!"_ Jeremy urges.

I head to the spot where I saw the key in my vision, heart pounding when I suddenly hear more fighting going on. It seems the last remaining Xana Bot is on the offensive.

 _"Quickly Lila! More Xana Bots have arrived!"_

I keep running, pushing myself to run faster, and I finally find the floor that leads to the key.

Concentrating electricity to the soles of my feet, my lightning bolt glows. I let the charge build-up beneath me, then jump. Soaring through the air, I reach the top of the floor and land on it.

I press myself firmly on the floor before running to the key, and press it into the wall, at the same dispersing my powers. It glows, accepting my success, then forms into the Xana symbol.

 _"Nice work Lila!"_ Jeremy praises. _"Watch out!"_ I look to see the floors and walls are returning to normal, and just as they do, a Xana Bot flies my way.

Quickly taking out my hunter's knife from its sleeve, I charge it with electricity. My lightning bolt glows. The electricity flows through my gauntlets and then into the hunter's knife. The Xana Bot fires at me, and I grip my hunter's knife in both hands, reflecting the laser at the Xana bot.

The Xana Bot explodes as the laser is returned in full force, striking it in the face. The floor fully descends a few seconds later, and I disperse my electricity. Sheathing my hunter's knife in the hidden sleeve of my quiver, I race to catch up with the others.

Taking a quick headcount, it seems Odd and Sissi were both devirtualized during the fight. The four of us that remain all nod, then head towards the open door.

 **Afterwards**

 **At the elevator area**

Reaching the edge of where we usually wait for the elevator, we hear it approaching.

"Now!" Ulrich exclaims. The four of us jump down and land on the elevator safely. It rises to bring us to the entrance of the Celestial Dome.

 **Afterwards**

 **At the entrance of the Celestial Dome**

The elevator fixes itself to the floor and we all race to the door. The door opens up, and we run on the bridge. Aelita runs past us as the data interface pops up. She starts touching the data interface and reaching her, I can see she's moving files.

"I've connected Jeremy," Aelita informs.

 _"Come on Aelita! We've got to get the data before the flying Mantas come,"_ Jeremy says.

Looking up at the manta's hatch, Aelita continues using the data interface. _"The Mantas are about to hatch. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Now!"_

The three of us look at one another and then look up at where the flying mantas would usually hatch.

"Hey Jeremy," Yumi says slowly. "I don't see any flying mantas."

"Yeah... me neither," I add.

 _"Strange, I can see them on my screen. Stay on your guard, they may come from the other end of the sector."_

Heeding Jeremy's word, the three of us start looking for any sign of the Mantas. Out of nowhere, a laser is fired from behind us as Yumi is thrown to the floor, part of her chest begins sparking.

Quickly turning behind, Ulrich takes out his katana as two more Xana Bots have begun to charge their attacks.

I try to take my hunter's knife out of its sleeve, but the Xana Bots fire their lasers at Ulrich and myself. I'm thrown back from the impact of the lasers, losing my hunter's knife, and Ulrich tries using his Katana to reflect the lasers but is having difficulty doing so.

Yumi and I are bombarded with another round of charged lasers as we try to rise. Instead, we fall back down and disappear into a cloud of pixels.

 **Back inside the scanner room**

 **Inside the scanner**

The scanners doors open, and I nearly fall out of it but Sissi catches me quickly. Yumi is able to stay on her feet. Sissi helps me up to my feet as Odd and Yumi run over to me.

"You okay Lila?" Yumi asks.

"Yeah, those Xana Bots' lasers are pretty powerful. Especially at such close range. And thanks Sissi, for the save," I say.

"No problem. That's what friends are for," Sissi smiles.

"Speaking of friends, how's Ulrich and Aelita doing?" Odd asks Jeremy.

 _"They're making their way out of Sector Five now. They almost had an issue, but they made it_ ," Jeremy replies.

"An issue? What sort of issue?" I ask.

 _"The Mantas I detected on the monitors earlier arrived… except they were capable of releasing mines,"_ Jeremy's cringe is audible even in his voice.

"Mines? Well, that's new," Sissi comments.

 _"Yeah. Anyways, Ulrich and Aelita are now on their way to the Forest Sector. They'll be back soon, so head on up,"_ Jeremy says.

"Gotcha," I say. The four of us make our way to the freight elevator.

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside the lab**

All of us are now in front of the computer's screens as Aelita and Ulrich have already returned.

"Well, these are codes from subsystems," Jeremy points out. "I crafted them three weeks ago." He looks at his monitor, then widened his eyes as he typed away furiously, "Hey, yeah! This one looks like the source code to a virus; I might be able to use it. If the virus inside you Aelita is anything like this one, I might be able to free you from Xana."

"You mean… like soon?" Aelita asks hopefully.

"Yeah," Jeremy replies with a smile.

I nod, barely able to contain my excitement. "That would be great."

"Okay, we're out of here," Odd says, grabbing Ulrich by the arm. "There's a big climbing competition today; got to practice."

Ulrich pulls out of Odd's grip, crossing his arms, "I already told you, I'm not doing it."

"Really? Why not?" Yumi asks, confused.

"Yeah, it shouldn't be too much of a problem for you Ulrich," Sissi says.

"'I'm not doing it okay?" Ulrich says in a huff.

Sissi and Yumi look at him curiously.

"At least come and watch me," Odd says pleadingly.

Yumi walks over to Ulrich and puts her hand on his shoulder. "Come on, Ulrich. For once Odd has found a sport where being scrawny is a plus."

"Hey, I am not scrawny," Odd defends. "I'm svelte; it's not the same."

"Not too sure about that Odd. You look pretty svelte to me," I say jokingly.

Odd looks at me as he makes a mocking kind of face. "Haha, very funny."

 **Inside the gymnasium**

Upon entering the gym I glance at the rock wall, Odd and Herb are climbing on it. They seem to be talking, probably making fun of one another as they go up. I watch Odd as he quickly climbs to the top of the wall and stands up. He lifts his arms in victory.

"I'm the king of the world!" he exclaims.

Herb loses his grip and falls down on the mat.

Giggling slightly at Odd's enthusiasm, I get to work on the laptop. I start typing in any numbers I can think of, that will equal eight digits.

Typing them in, I wait for something to happen.

Looking at the laptop, nothing happens. Using my pen, I write down the number, so I can keep track of it. I enter another number in it and repeat the process.

 _I really wonder why this laptop wasn't better protected? Someone purposely put it in Franz Hopper's locker. It's not a coincidence, it's as if they knew about Franz Hopper, or at least knew about Lyoko. But how?_ I think. I type out another number. With no luck, I record the number I've just entered.

I look at the rock-climbing wall and see Ulrich and William climbing on it. Ulrich suddenly loses his grip. He cries out and falls onto the mat.

Yumi, Sissi, and Odd immediately go over to him.

Closing the laptop, I put it and my notebook in my bag before running over to check on Ulrich.

"Are you okay?" I ask, reaching him.

He looks at me and replies, "I'm fine."

He gets up abruptly and walks off.

I turn and spot William who climbs back down and lands on the mat.

"What's his problem?" William asks.

I shrug in reply and William walks away.

Jim calls out, "Alright everybody, that'll be it for today! You can grab your things and leave!"

Immediately, Odd grins in excitement.

"Cool!" he exclaims, "if gym class is ending early then that means we can grab lunch!"

Yumi remains silent, a concerned frown is fixed on her face as she stares after Ulrich's retreating back.

"What's wrong Yumi?" I ask her.

"Do you guys think… Ulrich has vertigo?" she asks hesitantly.

"What's that?" Sissi inquires curiously and we all start to get our things, not quite sure how to explain it to her easily.

 **Inside the cafeteria**

Yumi, Ulrich, Odd and Sissi have all changed out of their gym clothes. They're in their regular day clothes now and we're sitting down at our usual table. Herb and Nicholas are sitting across from us on another table by themselves.

"Ulrich, there's nothing to feel embarrassed about," Yumi says, unable to let the incident from earlier go.

Ulrich is looking out one of the windows in the cafeteria. He ignores Yumi, still clearly upset.

Sissi and Odd both have a lot of food on their trays. They clearly like their mashed potatoes.

In comparison, I'm eating rather light today. A few carrots with just a handful of mashed potatoes and some tea.

"Do you think he'll be fine?" Yumi whispers to me, still obviously worried.

"Yeah, I'm sure he will be," I reply just as quietly, almost believing it myself.

"Hey, Stern!" Herb calls out to him, getting up from his table. Nicholas follows closely behind.

Ulrich looks at him and sighs.

"What do you want Herb?" Ulrich asks as Herb and Nicholas reach our table.

"You think you're so popular now, having Sissi at your table, right?" Herb asks jealousy clouding his tone.

"I'm not in the mood for this Herb," Ulrich replies, clearly exasperated.

Not getting a desirable reaction from Ulrich, Herb changes targets.

"Hey Sissi, why don't you hang out with us anymore? Nicholas and I never get to see you these days," Herb complains.

Sissi tilts her head, clearly annoyed at the situation.

"That's right," she states, "because I'm hanging out with them now. Besides, you could always hang out with Emily LeDuc. I hear she's a bit lonesome ever since Cameron Jones left the school. She hasn't talked to any other boys."

I think that maybe Sissi was being a bit harsh but all thoughts of sympathy for Herb and Nicholas disappear as I look over to Emily. She's sitting at a table towards the back of the cafeteria and appears to be alone.

I take a sip of my tea.

"She hasn't?" Herb asks, anger diffused with the new topic of conversation.

"No. From what I hear, she really liked Cameron," Sissi replies.

I'm shocked by the news and choke on my tea. It goes down the wrong way.

"Lila, are you okay?" Odd asks. Nodding despite the discomfort I take a fresh gulp of tea. Thankfully, it soothes my throat and I sigh in relief.

"I'm fine," I manage.

 _I hadn't known that Emily had liked Cameron. Feeling a bit guilty about forcing Cameron to leave the school for his own good… I wish I had known Emily liked Cameron. If I did… maybe I could have had Cameron stay here, but… no, I've got to believe the choice we made for him was for the best,_ I think.

Herb looks at Emily and then looks at Nicholas.

"What do you think?" he asks his blond friend.

"We can ask if she wants to hang out with us, but we probably shouldn't push our luck," Nicholas suggests with a shrug. Herb nods and turns back to Ulrich.

"Truce?" Herb asks.

Ulrich thinks about it for a moment before nodding.

Herb and Nicholas head over to the table Emily is sitting at.

"Hey, Sissi. Is what you said true about Emily? Did she really like Cameron?" I ask.

"It is, yeah. She was pretty jealous that you always got to hang out with him," Sissi replies.

"Oh, I see," I mumble.

"Oh man," Ulrich says, an annoyed groan following his words.

"What's wrong Ulrich?" Yumi immediately asks.

"I forgot my phone back at the gym. Anyone want to go with me?" Ulrich requests. He gets up from the table.

"I'll go," I offer.

"Me too," Yumi says.

"You haven't really eaten that much today. You're sure?" Ulrich asks, directing his question at me.

Grabbing three of my carrots, I push my tray over to Odd.

"Here," I tell him, "you can have my leftovers."

"Cool! Thanks, Lila!" Odd exclaims, a grin appearing on his face.

"We'll meet you once Odd and I are done with our food," Sissi says, eying Odd's extra portions with a slightly envious glare.

"Alright," Ulrich says before turning around and heading towards the cafeteria doors.

I start munching on my carrots as Yumi and I follow him.

 **Inside the gymnasium**

Reaching the gym, we see Jim just walking around. He appears to be holding Ulrich's phone.

"Hey, Jim!" Ulrich calls out to him.

For some reason, Jim doesn't respond. A little weary at his peculiar behavior, we slow down.

"Jim, are you okay? Ulrich's sorry for leaving his phone in here," Yumi says, trying to get his attention once again.

Jim stops walking. He throws Ulrich's cell phone over his head and Ulrich is quick to dart forwards and grab it. He catches it with ease.

"Nice throw Jim," Ulrich compliments him. He puts his cell phone into his pocket.

Jim turns around to face us. His head is lowered, but he looks up at us his eyes pulse with Xana's symbol.

"Oh no, not again!" I complain.

 _The last time I faced Jim like this I ended up getting detention. If we can contain the situation here, maybe there's a chance a return to the past won't be needed,_ I think.

"Yumi! Head to the lab. Call the others and have them meet you there. We'll take care of him!" Ulrich exclaims.

"Also, here Yumi," I say, interrupting her before she can head off, "take my backpack. I don't want Xana getting his hands-on MB's laptop. If we're lucky, Jeremy might have enough data from our last trip to sector five to make Aelita's antivirus work."

 _At least that's my hope. Then again… it might be too soon for Aelita to find the anti-virus,_ I think.

"Right! I'll use the shortcut here in the gym," Yumi says. She grabs my backpack.

"Okay!" Ulrich calls. Yumi starts running off. Ulrich and I wearily size up Jim.

"Let's go to the equipment room! There's bound to be something in there that'll help us!" Ulrich tells me as he turns around.

"Good idea," I reply, nodding in agreement.

I follow closely behind Ulrich as he starts running in the direction of the equipment room.

I grimace as I hear Jim's footsteps behind us.

 _Xana must be after us since he's not chasing Yumi,_ I think.

After finally reaching the equipment room, Ulrich grabs a broom. He places the broom in the handle.

"That might not work Ulrich; possessed people can easily break through the door since they're stronger than regular humans," I remind him.

"I know, but it might slow him down at least," Ulrich suggests grimly.

Looking around the room, I spot a few baseball bats. Grabbing both of them I throw one over to Ulrich. He catches it easily.

Going to the front door, we find the silence of no incoming possessed person, to be rather strange. Raising our eyebrows, I remove the broom dropping it to the ground. I open the door. Ulrich and I leave the equipment room, the door closes.

Looking around the gymnasium, Ulrich and I gasp as we see everything made of metal has been electrified, including our only exit from the building.

"This is not good," Ulrich admits.

"No, it's not," I agree as I reach into my pocket for my cell phone. I facepalm, realizing that it's not there.

"Ugh," I groan, "my cell phone is in my bag, which I just gave to Yumi."

"Good thing I've got mine in my pocket," Ulrich says.

He quickly pulls out his cell phone and dials a number. As the phone starts to ring, I walk closer to him. He puts the phone on speaker.

"Einstein it's us," Ulrich says into the phone when the ringing stops, "we've lost sight of Jim and he's electrified the gymnasium. We can't get out," Ulrich explains.

 _"Odd, Sissi and Yumi are almost at the tower. There was a slight, uh, hiccup with Aelita's new antivirus,"_ Jeremy says hesitantly.

"What exactly do you mean by a 'slight hiccup' Jeremy? Care to explain?" I demand.

 _"You're not going to be happy,"_ Jeremy says reluctantly, _"but when I injected Aelita's antivirus, it sort of made her invisible."_

"It did what?!" I shriek.

 _"I'm nearly done extracting it! Once the extraction is complete, Aelita can enter the tower and deactivate it. Odd, Yumi and Sissi are dealing with a Tarantula and some Hornets that are guarding the tower,"_ he informs us.

"Jeremy," I say but I don't get to finish my sentence. Ulrich nudges my arm and gestures towards the doors.

My eyes widen, and I speak into the phone again, "Uh, you might want to step on it, Jeremy. Jim's back with a few of our classmates. We'll be needing a return trip."

 _Electricity must not hurt them as badly when they're possessed. That must be how they've gotten in..._ I think.

Herb, Nicholas, Emily, and Jim stalk menacingly towards us.

 _"Right, we'll step on it!"_ Jeremy reassures us.

Hanging up, I hand Ulrich's phone back to him. He places it in his pocket and tosses his bag to the side.

We grip our bats tightly and glance at each other. Nodding once, we start running at our possessed classmates.

The first to lift their arms is Xanafied Emily, her hands channeling purple electricity. Sparks arc between her fingers, Ulrich and I leap to the side in order to try and get out of her path.

Emily focuses her electricity within her palms and blasts it as us, the gym bathed in purple light as each bolt narrowly misses us.

Ulrich and I dive out of the way once more, barely emerging unscathed as bolts of lightning strike the floor and walls around us, before sprinting onwards.

Xanafied Herb and Nicholas are waiting behind us; Ulrich and I silently agree to take on one each. I end up facing off against Herb. Without hesitation, I raise my bat to take a swing at him.

Herb manages to catch the bat and tear it from my grip, despite his scrawny figure. I duck just in time to dodge the right hook that he throws my way.

Ulrich isn't so lucky.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see him fly backward as Nicholas' fist connects with his face. I wince in sympathy but don't have time to linger on it as I find my lungs emptying themselves of air, Herb slamming his foot into my stomach.

I land on the floor, hard. A groan of pain escapes me, and I turn around to see Ulrich scrambling away from a bat-wielding Jim.

Things aren't looking good.

I hear shoes scuffle on the floor near me and I look up to see Herb raising my baseball bat.

I'm about to scream when Herb drops the bat. I hear Jim dropping the bat he is holding, too. Herb's eyes start flickering in and out before returning to normal. Looking over to Ulrich, I see the same thing is happening to Emily, Nicholas, and Jim.

Ulrich gets up and I do too and go over to each other. The four formerly possessed Kadic members render unconscious and collapse on the ground. Ulrich and I take a collective sigh.

A blinding white light engulfs the room, and everything disappears.

 **Earlier that day**

 **Back in the gymnasium**

Opening my eyes, I see that I'm back on the bench and my numbers are still, thankfully, in my notebook.

I look up to see Ulrich and William casually chatting.

"Huh?! Who told you that?!" William exclaims at something Ulrich has just said.

Ulrich looks over at Sissi, Herb and Nicholas. Sissi smiles. She looks at me and tells Herb and Nicholas something. As she runs over to me, I close MB's laptop.

When she reaches me, Sissi sits down on the bench.

"Hey, so Aelita is back to normal, Jeremy did his Einstein thing and made everything okay," Sissi informs me.

"That's good to hear," I say. I look at Sissi.

"Say Sissi… is it true what you said about Emily? That she liked Cameron?"

She nods.

"Yeah. Why do you ask?"

"Just curious," I shrug, hoping she won't press further. Sissi can't help but look at me curiously. I look at her, and change the subject.

"Say um Sissi remember what we talked about the other day? About how me and Yumi went into your room, way back then?"

Sissi nods.

"I do. Why?"

"I just… I'm just really sorry," I sigh. She looks at me and smiles. "Lila," she starts.

"Like I already told you the _first_ time. I get it and you _don't_ need to apologize," she smiles.

I smile at her slightly,

"Thanks, Sissi."

 **Later**

 **Inside Lila and Aelita's room**

Going back to mine and Aelita's room, I see Aelita is on her bed. She sits up as I enter the room. Putting my backpack on the floor, I look at her.

"Lila, I'm so glad you're alright!" she exclaims.

"Of course I am, what made you think I wasn't?" I ask, trying to forget how close it had been this time, and I go to her bed. I sit down on the bed with her.

"When Yumi explained that you and Ulrich stayed behind at the gym, I started to worry. Jeremy and I were concerned we didn't make it in time," she admits.

"No, you did. Don't worry. Although, Xana possessing multiple people at once is new," I say focusing on the facts.

Aelita nods, "it is. Did Jeremy tell you I was invisible temporarily?"

I nod.

"Yeah, he did. How was that?" I ask her with a weary smile.

"It was… awkward," Aelita answers, then laughs lightly.

I look at her curiously, confused as to how it could be awkward.

* * *

Author's Note: A decision will be made soon on the Adventures of Lila Belpois's continuation. If you haven't voted yet, you can always check the poll on my profile.

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As always,

Don't forget to review!

LyokoWarrior1994


	43. Cold War

**Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is copyrighted by Moonscoop.**

* * *

This chapter was written by me and edited by **Blackcat8539**. It was also edited by **AeroJester203.**

I only own Lila. Mary is owned by **AeroJester203.**

* * *

Sorry for the long wait, things have been pretty busy! Enjoy!

* * *

 _Cold War_

* * *

 **Inside Lila and Aelita's room**

 **POV Lila's**

I'm typing on MB's laptop just before class time, entering another combination on it only for nothing to happen again. Writing down the combination on my notebook, I sigh heavily and close it to store in the second drawer next to the copy of my father's laptop. I open the first drawer and I put my notebook in it, along with my pen. I close that drawer and I stare at the second drawer, looking at the laptop for a moment, thinking, _Last night, I thought I heard the laptop going off, like it detected a tower or something. I sincerely hope that's not the case. I should probably go meet Jeremy and Aelita in his room._

I close the drawer.

 **Inside Jeremy's room**

Opening Jeremy's door, I pause at the sight of Odd frantically searching for something throughout the whole room. Ulrich is sitting on Jeremy's bed while Jeremy and Aelita are by his computer.

"Hey, guys," I greet. "What's up?"

"Odd's looking for a film of his," Ulrich replies, watching the whole scene with an air of disinterest.

"Ah," I say, now understanding why he's making such a mess of Jeremy's room. Closing the door, I go to Jeremy's bed and put my backpack beside me as I sit down. "So, what film did you lose, Odd?"

"It's called 'I guess, I guess, it's a ghost'," Odd replies.

Ulrich and I watch as Jeremy gets more and more annoyed at the mess Odd is creating.

Completely oblivious to this, he adds, "If you want me to become rich and famous, I absolutely _have_ to give it to TV."

"Who's TV?" Aelita and I ask in unison. Looking at each other, we laugh a little.

Odd takes what looks like a trash can with paper in it and pushes it to the middle of the room. Upending it and scattering the rubbish all over the floor, he continues his search while answering.

"His real name is Thomas Vincent, but everybody calls him TV because he's the famous news reporter on TV." He then kicks the trash can to the side as he jokes, "TV, get it?"

"Yeah, yeah I get it," I reply with a roll of my eyes. "Something tells me I'm not going to like this Thomas Vincent guy."

Our attention is drawn to the door when Yumi and Sissi enter.

"TV is going to be here in five minutes!" Yumi informs us.

Sissi is holding a CD case with a disc in it, calling, "Hurry up, Della Robbia!"

"My career is nipped in the bud!" Odd exclaims dramatically, dropping his face into his hands. He walks over to Jeremy's desk and puts his head on it, beginning to whimper.

Then, he suddenly stops.

"Yes!" Odd shouts in victory. He picks up a CD case of his own that was sitting by Jeremy's equipment and gives it a kiss, "Fame, fortune, and glory are mine!"

"Odd, you are a strange person," I comment.

Odd gives an uncaring shrug with a smile, "If you say so."

Turning to Jeremy and Aelita, I remember why I'd come in the first place and ask, "Say, Jeremy, did your Super Scan program go off in the middle of the night by any chance?"

Jeremy nods before speaking, "Yeah, it did. That's why I'm checking it now, but I can't seem to confirm the tower's location. Why, did yours?"

"I thought it did? I'm not entirely sure…" I trail off as I second guess myself.

 _Then again, I haven't used my dad's laptop for a while,_ I think. _Maybe I just imagined the beeping last night._

"How bizarre, what do you think the problem is Jeremy?" Aelita asks him.

"I'm not sure, might be a bug. I hope not, otherwise I'll need to rework the Super Scan's design," he replies before checking his watch. "Anyways, we should all get going to class."

"Alright! TV, here I come!" Odd exclaims, picking up his backpack. He runs out and Sissi practically chases after him.

"No, you don't, Della Robbia!" she calls. "I'm giving my CD to TV _first_!"

Yumi watches them leave and then looks at us as we leave the room, "You guys, I've been wondering about something. Do you think Sissi is starting to crush on Odd?"

I snort in amusement, "No way! What makes you think that?"

"I don't know, just a feeling," Yumi replies.

 **Inside Mrs. Hertz's classroom**

Sitting with Sissi, as I have been lately, all of us but Yumi are in Mrs. Hertz's class. I'm sitting by an open window since it's a bit nicer out today. Odd is sitting with one of the other students, which is a bit strange, but he probably wants to be further in the front. He's repeatedly clicking his pen as he eagerly waits for TV.

"After our field trip last week, I asked you to calculate the yield of the field of corn that we visited. Now, who can give me the answer?" Mrs. Hertz asks the room. Upon hearing the sound of snoring in the back, she calls on the sleeping student, "Poliakoff?"

Nicholas snorts as he startles awake and hurriedly answers, "1,527 tons."

 _Ugh… wrong. Why bother going to class if you're not going to pay attention?_ I think, annoyed.

"Really, Nicholas?" Mrs. Hertz's asks before starting to clap sarcastically. "Well done, you've solved the problem of world hunger."

All of us laugh at him, even Sissi and Herb.

"Quiet down," Mrs. Hertz requests.

As we do so, the door opens up. A guy who has brown hair with some gray mixed in with glasses on his face enters the room holding a microphone. If I'm not mistaken, it's got to be TV himself with a camerawoman following behind.

 _Uh-oh! No one told me there were going to be cameras!_ I think. Opening my notebook, I bury myself in the pages so that it covers my face.

Mrs. Hertz's questions the intruder, "Yes?"

"Give me a camera shot of the kids," TV instructs the woman behind him instead of answering.

"Ahem, can I help you?" Mrs. Hertz's asks pointedly.

He rudely dismisses her, "Yes, get out of the shot."

 _This guy sounds like a jerk,_ I think.

"Do our schools provide a future for our youth?" he asks dramatically, I assume, in front of the camera. "Faced with the teachers' relaxed attitudes, we have reason to doubt. To see how bad it's become, all you need to do is pick out a student at random and ask him his grade point average."

Abruptly approaching Jeremy, I peek and see he's holding the microphone in his hand, but that's all I can see. He inquires, "You, what's your grade point average?"

"99.87 out of 100," Jeremy answers.

TV blinks in surprise, "Huh?"

 _Ha… Bad move, TV. Jeremy's a genius,_ I mentally snicker.

I can't resist the urge to see his stunned expression and peek completely, over the top of my textbook. Unfortunately, TV notices the movement and starts moving towards me.

I try to bury my face back in the book, but he continues to my desk and asks, "Miss, what about your GPA?"

"Thomas, she seems camera shy," the camerawoman observes.

"Yes, but she also has red hair, which is a common trait of delinquents," TV says.

I slam my notebook down in anger, "Says who?"

"Most psychologists," he replies, a pleased smile on his face. I grit my teeth as I realize that I've played right into his hands. And mentioning that it's dyed probably won't help my case. Then I get an idea.

"Very well, may I see that microphone, so I can speak clearly into it?" I ask.

TV looks at me warily, but nods and hands me the device. Taking it, I immediately throw it out the open window. The camerawoman decides to turn the camera off at this point and TV's eyes widen as some of the kids start laughing hysterically.

"Lila!" Mrs. Hertz's exclaims disappointingly. She then addresses the class and orders, "Everyone settle down, right now! Lila you'll need to leave for the principal's office right this instant!"

"I second that!" TV yells while crossing his arms. "You're going to pay for that!"

 **Inside the principal's office**

Sitting in a chair in the principal's office, Mr. Delmas looks at me as Jim stands next to him.

"I want her to pay for breaking my equipment!" TV demands.

"Ms. Smith, what do you have to say for yourself?" Mr. Delmas asks me calmly, clearly not enjoying the whole situation.

I just can't find it in myself to regret my actions and firmly reply, "I am not sorry, but I will pay for the damage done to the microphone."

"There you have it then, Mr. Vincent," Mr. Delmas says, clearly relieved that the situation could be resolved quickly.

"What?!" TV shouts. "You're not going to give her detention?!"

"From what I understand, Ms. Smith felt uncomfortable being in front of a camera," Mr. Delmas calmly replies. "Yet you continued to film her which caused her to throw the microphone out the window, thus breaking your equipment. To make matters worse you called her a delinquent because of the color of her hair. In the future Mr. Vincent, please get the students' permission ahead of time for those who would like to be filmed."

"Fine!" TV growls before storming out of the room.

The camerawoman turns and speaks to me, "I'm Edna, by the way. Don't tell him I told you this, but what you did was very brave. He's not the best boss in the world."

Looking at her, I tilt my head and nod once, "Yeah, I noticed that."

Smiling, Edna takes her camera and opens the door. She leaves the room and closes it behind her.

I turn back to Mr. Delmas, "So, am I really not in trouble?"

He turns to Jim, "Well, Jim? What do you think?"

"Well, Mr. Delmas, sir, I don't think Lila should get a detention—not for a reason like this. I had my fair share of detentions as a kid for far worse reasons," he comments dryly.

"Really?" I ask, intrigued. "You have?"

Mr. Delmas looks at Jim curiously.

"Yes, but, uh, I'd rather not talk about it," the gym teacher quickly replies.

Mr. Delmas turns to me, "Before you go, Ms. Smith, there is still the matter of the bill. I'll need to inform your mother about this; do you have her contact information?"

"I do…" I say as I think quickly, "but unfortunately she may not answer right away, as she's currently out of the country and traveling on one of her business trips."

 _I'll need to use the voice synthesizer on the copy of my father's laptop,_ I think.

"Very well, if you can please give me her information you may then leave," Mr. Delmas says.

I quickly give him all the details, including my number as "Mary's", that he needs and then exit the office.

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside Lila and Aelita's room**

Going to mine and Aelita's room, I enter and close the door behind me. Putting my backpack down, I go over to the second drawer of my desk and take out the copy of my father's laptop.

Ever since Aelita and I became roommates I haven't had the time to fully look through this laptop. I've gone through a few video diaries, but they didn't have any useful information in them.

 _Still, I better do this quickly, otherwise she might come back from classes soon and see me with the copy of my father's laptop,_ I think while looking at the door. _She knows Jeremy is my father, but if she thinks there's information on this laptop that will help us defeat Xana she might want to use it. I need to make sure that doesn't happen so that the order of events doesn't continue to change too drastically. After all, this timeline already has one terrible future… better not mess with time further._

Putting the laptop on my desk, I open it and boot it up. Letting it load, I go to the opened closet to get a USB cable. I head back with the cord in hand and see that the laptop has started up and now shows the home screen.

I connect the phone to the laptop with the cable and type on the keyboard after it accepts the connection. Searching for my father's program, I open it and then sync it to the cell phone, something else Mary fixed up when she was here a while back.

This version of the voice synthesizer program is different from the one my father created, able to record and save the settings to reproduce voices instead of being purely constructed. I'm not sure when it was updated though, sometime during my father's later years I would imagine. After the devices are synchronized, I search for Mary's voice sample. Finding it with her picture next to the sound file, I click on it and an audio feedback window appears beside the image.

"This is Mary Smith, Lila's mother," I say, her voice playing back on the program.

 _It's a good thing Mary had recorded her voice way back when Aelita was still living on Lyoko so the program would be able to do this. She knew how to plan for an emergency… I can't help but wonder if she felt like she wouldn't be here one day._ I look down sadly for a moment, _I do miss her voice… her real voice…_

My cell phone starts to ring. Collecting myself, I let it go a few times before I finally answer it. Mr. Delmas's picture comes up on the laptop.

"Hello, this is Mary Smith speaking," I say, the program playing her voice through the phone as I speak.

Mr. Delmas answers, _"Ah, Mrs. Smith. This is Principal Delmas."_

I refrain from giggling.

"Principal Delmas, how are you?" I ask.

 _"I'm fine. Thank you, but I'm afraid I have a bit of unpleasant news. Earlier today, your daughter got herself into a bit of a predicament. While she does not have detention, she does have to pay for damages."_

"Damages? Whatever for?" I ask. I check the audio feedback, and it continues to play back Mary's voice.

 _"Lila damaged some equipment belonging to a man named Thomas Vincent,"_ he explains. _"She was well within her rights to do so, as Mr. Vincent completely ignored her wish to be kept off camera. Then, to make matters worse, Mr. Vincent called her a delinquent due to the color of her hair, after which she promptly threw the microphone out a window in retaliation."_

"I see, I see. How much is the bill?" I ask, getting right to the point. I don't trust myself not to start ranting about how justified my actions were.

"400 euros, Mrs. Smith," Mr. Delmas replies reluctantly.

My eyes widen.

"400 Euros? For a microphone?" I ask, trying not to make it sound like a complaint. "Seems… a bit much."

Mr. Delmas clears his throat before explaining in a sympathetic voice, _"It was a very expensive piece of equipment. I've posted the bill on Lila's school account. I'm afraid it will have to be paid today."_

"That's doable I suppose. I apologize for not answering right away, I'm juggling quite a bit between being a businesswoman and a single parent," I explain. "I'm currently out of the country on a business trip. You've caught me at a good time, it's a little after 6:00 PM where I am."

 _"Yes, Lila mentioned you traveled,"_ he says. _"We're both busy people."_

"That we are, Mr. Delmas. I'll see to it that the bill is paid for immediately."

"Thank you, Mrs. Smith. Take care," Mr. Delmas says in farewell. He ends the phone call and his picture on the laptop disappears.

Looking at my cell phone, I end the call and the screen goes to the digital clock. I exit the program, Mary's picture and the audio feedback disappearing from my view. I go online and to the school's website getting on the parent's account page. Letting it load, I enter Mary's information in.

Opening the first drawer where my diary and its key are, along with my notebooks and pens, I see my debit card. Grabbing it, I click on the bill and enter Mary's debit info. After the site accepts the information and payment, I close the copy of my father's laptop.

 _It's a good thing that this card is also linked to a checking account where the money is in Mary's name. This way, even if I put Mary's name on the bill, Mr. Delmas can't know that it's me using the card,_ I think.

Putting the copy of my father's laptop back in the second drawer, I close it and then grab the USB cable to put back on the top shelf inside my closet.

Going to the door, I grab my backpack and head out, locking the door behind me as I head to the cafeteria for lunch.

 **Inside the cafeteria**

Getting to the lunch room, I see that Odd, Ulrich, Sissi, and Yumi are already at our usual table. I take a tray at the start of the line and walk up to Rosa the cafeteria lady.

"What's for lunch today, Rosa?" I ask her.

She frowns apologetically, "Sorry, Lila, but I'm afraid I'm almost completely emptied out of my meatballs. I do have a few mashed potatoes leftover and some bread. I might have a few extra carrots if you'd like that too." Rosa replies apologetically.

"Aww… The one time I actually wouldn't mind meatballs. Okay, sure thing, Rosa," I say.

Nodding, Rosa scoops up some mash potatoes and puts it on my plate. She then grabs me a small roll of bread and a bag of carrots.

"Your usual tea?" Rosa asks.

I nod with a smile, "Yes, please."

Rosa leaves for a moment before coming back to put the cup on my tray. I thank her with a cheery grin.

"You're welcome, dear," she says.

Taking the tray, I go to the table to sit down with the others. I sit down on the chair next to Odd.

"What kept you?" he asks. "Did Delmas give you detention?"

"No, no. Not detention. Though I should try to restrain myself around Vincent. Apparently, the bill cost 400 euros!" I complain, perhaps a bit too dramatically.

"What?" Sissi asks incredulously. "For that stupid microphone you threw out the window?"

"Yup, the very same," I say and take a bite out of my bread roll.

"I still can't believe you did that. Would have been funnier to see it from what Sissi and Odd told me," Yumi says with a hint of admiration in her voice.

Swallowing my mouthful, I look at her and shrug, "Eh, it's no biggie. That Vincent guy is a real jerk anyway."

I look at Odd's tray, it has a lot fewer meatballs than usual today.

"Odd, what's with your tray?" I ask in surprise.

"TV took all the meatballs Rosa had left…" Odd trails off with a pout.

I roll my eyes, "Ah, that explains it."

"Hey, look outside!" one of the students exclaims.

Looking outside, the five us see that it's starting to snow. My eyes widen.

 _Snow? But it's only the beginning of April!_ I think. _Then again… Awesome! Snow! I can't remember the last time I saw snow!_

Getting up without eating any of my food, I'm the first one to run outside the cafeteria. Almost everyone else – including Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, and Sissi – start to make their way outside as well.

As I exit the cafeteria, and with the first bit of snow I reach, I make a snowball. Holding it in my hands, I let my breath out and notice how cold it is. For some reason, despite wearing my jacket, I don't seem to be bothered by the temperature.

A lot of students are outside now, playing with their friends. Finding Odd, I run up to him and throw my snowball at him catching him by surprise as it hits him in the face.

"Hey! Not cool!" Odd exclaims, wiping the snow off. Laughing, Yumi and Ulrich start throwing snowballs at one another.

"That's enough now, everyone inside!" Jim calls.

I spot Mr. Delmas picking up a snowball and throwing it at Jim's face, Sissi laughing at the sight and cheering on her father. I look away with a giggle and see that Herb, Nicholas, and Emily are also throwing snowballs at each other.

Sissi throws a snowball at Odd, who gets frustrated again. Picking up the snow, he makes his own snowball and he tosses it back at her. She gets hit by it but isn't that upset. In fact, she laughs it off and starts making more snowballs to throw back at him.

 _Hmm… maybe Sissi really is into Odd,_ I muse. _I mean, she's in the group now; it makes sense that they would enjoy spending their time together. And I suppose Odd doesn't have to marry Samantha Knight if he doesn't want to in this timeline. Though Ulrich and Yumi… they've had feelings for each other since the day they met. They just need a push in the right direction. That's kind of why I'm worried about Jeremy and Aelita… If they ever figure out I'm their daughter I'm not sure if that would help them develop a relationship._

Suddenly, it starts getting windy and the temperature begins to drop rapidly. The snow starts falling in thicker waves and a lot of us run back inside. Some of the younger kids start crying. I look behind to see Jim and Mr. Delmas helping a few of the younger students that are still outside.

Looking at Herb, Nicholas, and Emily, I call out to them, "You guys, hurry up and follow us!"

Nodding, they run up to us and we head to the dormitory stairwell.

 **Inside the dormitory stairwell**

Getting inside, Milly and Tamiya are now with us. They go over by the steps with their classmates. Herb, Nicholas, and Emily go to the stairs to take care of the younger students. There's a whole lot of us here, including TV and Edna. I sigh, trying to ignore them.

Yumi whispers, "We have to get to Lyoko."

"Yeah, you're right. I bet the weather is better there," Odd jokes.

Yumi takes her phone out and dials a number. Entering it, she makes a call.

"Jeremy, we're stuck at school because of the blizzard," she informs him.

Jim and Mr. Delmas walk down the stairs, handing out winter jackets, hats and mittens, as well as some scarves. I'm given a grey winter jacket and navy mittens along with a black hat, but I shake my head to the scarf. The two of them move on to the others. I put on the winter jacket first, then the hat, and finally the gloves.

After what seems like more than a couple minutes, I look around and see Mr. Delmas on the phone.

"Very good Mrs. Hertz, you did well to take the children safely to the basement of the science building," he says.

Jim is in a light-yellow winter jacket and he shows Mr. Delmas a small device, "Look, Mr. Delmas, I found a weather station. I got this free with my Sumo Mags subscription. Out there it shows the temperature outside; it's 4 degrees below zero. And in here, it's 20 degrees Celsius."

"20 degrees?" Mr. Delmas repeats with a worried frown. "Come on, let's go down to the boiler room."

Jim raises his voice, "Okay, everyone! We'll be heading down to the boiler room, so please follow us!"

Getting up, all of us start following behind them.

 _This is really weird… This can't be a normal blizzard; it's got to be Xana_ , I think.

Reaching the boiler room, the five of us sit together.

Ulrich whispers, "Did you hear that? Just 20 degrees in here. And there's no reason for Xana to stop there."

"Yeah, I know. This is bad," I say worriedly.

Odd shakes his head, "The only solution is to deactivate the tower on Lyoko."

"But how are we going to do that, if we're all slowly freezing to death?" Sissi asks.

"We'll need to split up," Yumi decides. "Odd, Sissi, if you two need to stay here, you can. Make sure nothing happens to the others."

"Right," Odd agrees with a nod.

"Ditto," Sissi adds. "Don't worry Yumi, you can count on us."

"Okay, and what about us? It's not like Delmas and Jim will just let us walk out of here," I point out.

"We'll need a distraction," Ulrich admits.

Sissi thinks for a moment and then smiles, "I have an idea. Odd, follow my lead." She winks at him when giving the order.

"Okay," Odd nods, a confused but amused expression on his face.

He gets up and Sissi offers her hand for him to take. I raise my eyebrow as they walk hand in hand towards Mr. Delmas and Jim.

"Umm, daddy…" Sissi says, playing the part of a shy daughter perfectly. "There's something you should know. Odd and I… we're dating."

Mr. Delmas eyes widen in shock, and he seems speechless for a moment.

Meanwhile, Jim asks incredulously, "You're _dating_ Della Robbia?"

"Uh-huh," she says innocently before continuing to address her dad. "I mean, I get that this isn't the _best_ time to tell you. But you see, daddy dearest, I _really_ like him."

Despite the strong desire to stay and watch how Mr. Delmas reacted to it, Ulrich, Yumi and I all make our way to the stairs.

 **In the woods**

Reaching the woods, we run despite feeling so cold.

When Yumi, Ulrich and I finally reach the grate, it's covered in snow that's starting to freeze over.

"If the three of us pull the grate off together, we should be able to get down there," I suggest.

"R-right," Ulrich stammers, the cold making his teeth chatter.

We each take a side of the grate. Pulling on it, we grunt as it slowly lifts. The movement starts breaking the ice that's frozen over part of it. After all the ice breaks, we toss the metal cover to the side and start climbing down the ladder. Not even bothering to put it back, we continue on.

After reaching the ground Yumi, Ulrich and I grab our riding equipment. We ride through the sewer tunnel system. Finally reaching the end of it, we put our equipment to the side and start towards the ladder. Yumi goes first and tries to pull the grate open.

"It's stuck!" she exclaims in frustration.

"Let me try," I suggest from the bottom of the ladder.

"Okay."

Climbing down, Yumi stands next to Ulrich who isn't looking too good.

"Ulrich, you okay?" I ask him, concerned.

He starts shivering, "I-I'm fine! J-j-just cold!"

Yumi wraps an arm around his shoulders. Her eyes widen.

"Ulrich! You're freezing!" she exclaims. Looking to me she says, "Can you tell Jeremy that we're in here? If I know Aelita, she's probably already on Lyoko by now. Try to get there; I'm not sure if Ulrich is going to last much longer in this cold."

"What about you?" I ask, worried.

"I'll be fine," she replies with grim determination. "I'll try and hold out a little longer."

"Okay," I agree.

Climbing all the way up I wrap one arm around a rung in the ladder and brace my shoulder against the metal grate. After a few solid rams against it pops off, letting the freezing winds in.

"Try to get somewhere a little warmer," I instruct the two below. "The tunnel system should have a good spot where the cold won't get to you."

"Okay, thanks, Lila," Yumi smiles slightly.

Climbing out, I start running down the snow-covered bridge to the factory.

 **Inside the lab**

Finally reaching the lab, I pant heavily as the freight elevator doors open. Jeremy looks at me from his chair.

"Thank goodness! But where are the others?" Jeremy inquires, concerned.

"Sissi and Odd are keeping an eye out for everyone at the school. Ulrich started to get very cold; I think he's getting hypothermia and Yumi is looking after him," I explain. Looking around, I don't see Aelita. "Where's Aelita?"

"She's already on Lyoko. Ice Sector," Jeremy explains reluctantly.

"Sounds cold," I say grumpily. I hit the elevator button, the freight elevator's doors start closing. They close and I head down to the scanners.

 **Lyoko's Ice Sector**

Opening my eyes, I see that I'm falling, and I soon land safely on the ice in a crouched position. Getting up, my broomstick materializes next to me. I get onto it and kick off into the air.

Urging my broomstick to go faster, it does so and I see the Scyphozoa has already wrapped its red glowing tentacles around Aelita, capturing her in its clutches. Two tentacles attached to Aelita's head. I urge my broomstick to go faster again and take my hunter's knife from its sleeve.

Generating electricity to my gauntlets, I let it flow into the blade. My weapon is engulfed in electricity and my lightning bolt amulet lights up, letting me know I'm fully charged up. I internally command my broomstick to hang back, and I jump off it, keeping my powers flowing at the same time.

Gripping my hunter's knife in both hands I run at the Scyphozoa. I slice the tentacles one by one, shocking them as I continue to let electricity flow through me. The Scyphozoa screeches in pain and it drops Aelita before fleeing.

Too far from her, I command my broomstick to fly down to her. It does so and catches her just in time. She falls flat on the broomstick a bit roughly, but it carries her over to me gently. I disperse my electricity and put my hunter's knife in its sleeve.

"Aelita are you okay?" I ask her, running up to her and my broomstick. She groans in pain slightly, given the position she's in, and fixes herself to the back of the broomstick.

"I'll be okay – where are the others?" she asks as I get onto the front of the broomstick.

"Still at the school," I answer. "Ulrich and Yumi are in the sewers, too. We need to step on it."

I kick my broomstick into the air again, and Aelita yelps at the sudden burst of speed, wrapping her arms around my waist for support.

 _"Look out behind you!"_ Jeremy exclaims.

Several lasers come from behind and nearly hit us. Looking back, my eyes widen to see three Mantas chasing us.

"Mantas?! What are Mantas doing here on Lyoko?!" I exclaim, surprised.

"I had a run in with them earlier, just before the Scyphozoa got me," Aelita explains, and I urge my broomstick to go faster as we make our way for the activated tower.

I dive lower to dodge three more lasers. I have to make several different maneuvers and all the while Aelita is holding onto me for dear life.

 _These Mantas are persistent!_ I think, annoyed as I try and dodge several more lasers with my broomstick.

The Mantas stop firing their lasers and fly past us, screeching. They release hovering mines as they fly to the activated tower, surrounding our path and part of the activated tower in a field of them.

 _"Another field of flying mines!"_ Jeremy exclaims, worried.

I look at Aelita, "Aelita, I'm really sorry about this, but hang on!"

"O-okay!" Aelita exclaims unsurely, gripping my waist harder.

 _Broomstick, step on it!_ I think.

Letting my broomstick take control, we start passing through the minefield. We continue flying through the bombs, but the same Mantas that created it have snuck their way behind us and are firing their lasers at us again.

Aelita looks back as the shots barely miss us, "Lila, the Flying Mantas are behind us!"

"I know," I say, and urge my broomstick to dive so we can dodge the lasers. The broomstick plummets all the way down and we nearly getting hit by a laser. I pull up at the last second, now flying low enough to get under the minefield. One of the Mantas hits the ice hard, just missing us as it crashes and explodes. Thrown slightly off course, we fly back up higher and into the mine field in hopes of using their own weapons against them.

However, one of the Mantas had split off and is now in front of us. It fires a laser at us, but I steer out of the way. It tries firing at us but can't seem to get a good shot.

"Perfect timing, you annoying pest," I say.

Letting the broomstick resume control in flying, I take my bow off its hook. A bit difficult to do with Aelita hanging onto me, but I manage. I take an arrow from my quiver and nock it. Raising my hands a little higher so I don't hurt Aelita, I pull the drawstring back and release the arrow. It flies directly at the Manta and pierces its side, making it screech. It starts falling and lands on its own minefield.

The explosives start detonating one by one in a chain reaction as I fly the broomstick higher to get out of the blast zone. The ones surrounding the tower begin going off as well, but not all of them. Still, there's a visible gap by the time the explosions stop.

 _"Yes, there's an opened passage!"_ Jeremy cheers.

"Let's go!" I exclaim. We fly down while some of the mines are starting to disappear. Aelita quickly gets off my broomstick to get into the tower.

"I'll cover you, don't worry," I say.

I fly my broomstick toward the last Manta and take my hunter's knife out of its sleeve. The Manta fires off several lasers at me, but I use my blade to block each one. I'm about to charge my electricity, but it fires another barrage and manages to hit me three times, knocking me off my broomstick in the process. I scream on my way down as I devirtualize in a cloud of pixels.

 **Inside the scanner room**

The scanner doors open and I drop to my knees. With no one to catch me, I try to get up, but now I can feel that the cold has gotten worse. It penetrates through the winter gear and makes me feel like I'm freezing.

 _Hurry, Aelita!_ I think.

I try to get up, but it's no good. I'm at my limit but then everything disappears a blinding light white.

 **Earlier**

 **Inside Lila and Aelita's room**

I realize I'm back in my room, standing by the door. Looking at myself, I see I'm already wearing my backpack.

 _Thank goodness I don't need to trick Delmas again,_ I think. Heading out the door, I make sure to lock it behind me.

I make my way to the cafeteria.

 **Inside the cafeteria**

There's no line again in the cafeteria. Getting to it, I take a tray and walk up to Rosa.

"What's for lunch today Rosa?" I ask her, despite already knowing.

She smiles, "I've got plenty of mashed potatoes and meatballs."

"Really? You do? But… I heard that TV really liked meatballs," I say, trying to figure out what changed.

"Let's just say there's extra today," Rosa mentions.

"Awesome," I say with a smile. Taking the tray, Rosa gives me a good helping of mashed potatoes and meatballs. "Thanks."

"You're welcome. Oh, and good job for standing up for yourself by throwing out Vincent's microphone," she whispers. "That reminds me!"

Rosa lets me take the tray and goes to her fridge in her kitchen. Opening it, she grabs something and brings it to me. It's a much larger piece of bread this time. She also grabs a cup of tea that's already made.

"Here you go," she says merrily and puts the bread on my tray, as well as the tea.

I thank her and turn to the table to see the others. Even Jeremy and Aelita are at the table this time. Walking to the table, I reach it and sit down. They greet me and Odd regales me with the "extra helping" he'd convinced Rosa to give TV.

I laugh at the mental image of the man with meatballs and sauce dribbling down his head. Turning to Odd, I say, "Nice job with Vincent, Odd. I take it you're not going to be looking up to him anymore?"

"Nah, and besides, he's kind of a jerk," he replies. "I also mentioned what you did to Vincent's microphone this time, figured you should get some extra portions."

I chuckle at that, "Thanks. Appreciate it." I then turn to Sissi, "So, um, are you two really dating?"

She looks at me, then Odd, who shrugs.

"Not really. But if we ever do date, don't let it surprise you," Sissi replies with a mischievous smirk.

"Well, hopefully, Delmas will realize TV isn't all that great and will make him leave the school," Jeremy suggests.

"That would be nice," I agree.

"I don't want to see snow again," Ulrich admits. "Not for a while… That was pretty bad."

"Tell me about it. I was so worried about you Ulrich. After I collapsed from the cold… I wasn't sure either of us were going to make it," Yumi mentions.

"But we succeeded. No matter what you guys, we'll always succeed to defeat Xana," I say. They nod.

 _And I'll be here every step of the way to help,_ I think.

* * *

Don't forget to review!

LyokoWarrior1994


	44. Déjà Vu

**Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is copyrighted by Moonscoop.**

* * *

This chapter was written by me. It was edited by **Discordant Night.**

I only own Lila. Mary is owned by **AeroJester203.**

* * *

This chapter will switch between Aelita and Lila's POV.

Enjoy!

* * *

 _Déjà Vu_

* * *

 **In Aelita's dream**

 **POV Aelita's**

Opening the door to an abandoned house, papers fly off the floor as I enter the dwelling. I trail my fingers across the desk that sits by the wall, picking up dust along the way. Walking towards the backyard entrance, I come to a halt.

Three men in black suits stand in the yard, their faces expressionless. My eyes widen as they begin stalking towards me.

I scream.

The dream ends.

 **End of Aelita's dream**

I'm still screaming as I bolt upright from my nightmare. I hear Lila scrambling awake, then footfalls on the ladder.

"Aelita? Aelita what's wrong?" Lila asks frantically, stepping off the ladder and rushing towards me.

"I um – I had a nightmare," I reply sheepishly. Lila arches her eyes, concerned, and I look away. She's always had to help me with my nightmares, and I feel like they're always an inconvenience.

"Are you going to be okay?" Lila asks, putting her hand on my shoulder.

I look to her. "Um… I think so." I murmur. "I'm going to go to the bathroom," I tell her. Lila nods and lets go of my shoulder. She goes to her desk and pulls out her chair. She looks at me.

"I'll be awake when you get back. If you need to talk – I'm here for you."

I smile slightly.

"Thanks Lila," I say smiling. Getting up from my bed, I walk to the door, and close it as I leave.

 **POV Lila's**

Aelita closes the door and I sigh internally.

I grab my diary and its key from the first drawer and set it on the desk, then grab a pen before beginning to write. Opening my diary with the key, I begin writing in it.

 _Dear Diary,_

 _Aelita is starting to have nightmares again. I'm not sure what to do. I don't know how to give her advice on something I don't fully understand. I tried to in the past. But I'm just concerned… I wish Mary was here. Maybe she'd be able to help Aelita in understanding these nightmares._

 _I just hope Xana isn't behind them… he's caused a lot of pain. And I haven't asked Aelita about how she's been coping with the death of her future self. I know it's been a while since it happened – but I wonder just exactly what these nightmares are. I hope it's not about her future self - getting shot by Cameron again. I know my father had mentioned a while back Aelita had nightmares about the Hermitage… and given her past I know it wasn't easy. But what can I do? I can't help her at all if these are those same nightmares… ugh…_

The door opens suddenly as I'm writing, allowing Aelita to step into the room. I hastily stop writing and slam the cover shut, turning to face her. Taking the key, I lock my diary and place the key back on the desk.

"Aelita… are you okay?" I ask hesitantly. Aelita shakes her head as she goes to her bed. Sitting on it, I get up and go to her, then sit down next to her.

She's trying to search for the right words to find, to explain to me how she's feeling but she can't. She starts crying softly and I then cradle her head to my lap. She continues crying softly, and I begin stroking her hair, trying to calm her down.

 _Whatever she's dealing with… I'm going to be there for her,_ I think.

 **The next day**

 **Outside the cafeteria**

We're all outside the cafeteria. Yumi is laying against one of the doors on the steps, Aelita is sitting with her. Jeremy and I are sitting on the next step in front of them. Odd has his arm on against Ulrich's shoulder, and Sissi stands next to him.

"It was day time," Aelita is explaining her nightmare last night, to the surprise of everyone gathered. "I went to go outside, and there were these men in black coming after me. It was horrible!" She shudders.

"You must have had a nightmare," Yumi says gently. "You shouldn't get so worked up. It happens to everyone."

"Yeah, that's right!" Sissi chimes in. "It's not unusual to have nightmares."

"If you say so…" Aelita mutters, trailing off.

"Okay, it's time to get wet. Are you going to cut swimming again Einstein?" Ulrich asks.

"I can't," Jeremy laments, getting up from the step. "Jim has already warned me. 'No more dumb excuses you hear?'

"What about you, Lila?" Ulrich asks.

"Uh huh, come on don't you guys remember? I don't know how to swim," I mention.

"Oh yeah that's right," Odd says, remembering from way back then.

"Why, what happened?" Aelita asks.

"Well…" I trail off, and start to recount what happened.

 **Flashback**

 **POV Lila's**

Jeremy, Odd, and I took our riding equipment. We speeded away for dear life with the Hornets chasing behind us. We soon reached one of the tunnel entrances. The Hornets surrounded us.

 _"We're trapped!"_ Jeremy exclaimed.

 _"You two got any other ideas?"_ Odd asked.

 _"Jump!"_ Jeremy exclaimed, grabbing mine and Odd's hand.

 _"Wait – I can't swim!"_ I exclaimed, terrified. It was too late though; Jeremy got both of us into the sewer water. The Hornets weren't chasing after us, and thankfully we were on the shallow end of the sewer. My feet could reach the ground. Odd coughed from the bad smell. He and Jeremy helped me over to a small enclosed tunnel. We got out of the water and climbed into it.

 _"Come on,"_ Jeremy said, helping Odd up last.

 _"Jeremy – and I mean this – NEVER do that again!"_ I exclaimed. _"If we had to swim, I would have drowned!"_

 _"Lila I wouldn't have let that happened,"_ Jeremy said. _"And besides insects are very sensitive to smells."_

 **End of Flashback**

"That must have been scary," Aelita comments.

"It was - in hindsight I _may_ have overreacted, but I'm also medically pardoned for swimming class anyways," I reply. Jeremy starts walking away from us and Odd says:

"We'll finally get to see that athletic body of yours. I can't wait."

Jeremy turns to us.

"You may be surprised. What are you going to do Lila? Are you at least joining the class?" he asks.

"No, I think I'm going to sit this one out today. I mean generally, I don't technically need to attend class – as long as it's nothing too strenuous. But the idea of everyone in their bathing suits…" I trail off. "It just makes me shy and awkward," I finish finally. "I'll be in my room, so let Jim know I won't be there, okay?" I ask.

"Sure thing," Jeremy answers.

 **Afterwards**

 **At the swimming pool**

 **POV Aelita's**

All of us are in our bathing suits, the guys in theirs, too. However, they don't have shirts on… which makes sense I suppose since we're going to be swimming.

 _Lila was right… this is awkward,_ I think. Jim is making some speech about our bodies, but I'm not paying too much attention to his speech.

 _I still feel bad about Lila having to console me last night… sometimes I feel like I'm such a burden to her. She's a good friend… and a good roommate. I'm glad Sissi is with us now… she'd probably be angry with me for waking her up at such a late hour. But she hasn't said a word yet about that… I'm glad she's changed,_ I think. I try to start paying attention to what Jim is saying to get my mind off of things.

"Which reminds me of when I used to be a salvage diver," Jim mentions offhandedly.

"You used to be a salvage diver Jim?" Nicholas inquires. "Can you tell us about it?"

"I'd uh… I'd rather not talk about it," Jim answers.

 _Not surprising Jim… you usually don't want to talk about it. I wonder why that is?_ I think. Jim points to Odd and Ulrich, who seem to have been talking this entire time.

"Stern and Della Robbia, I'm sorry if I've been boring you," Jim says sarcastically. "Alright. Get on deck, let's see what you can do." He gestures at the two of them.

Pain splits my thoughts, stabbing through my head. I wince and grip my temple, bending over as I try to focus past it.

"Are you okay?" Jeremy asks turning to me.

"Uh huh," I reply. I let go of my head, then slowly stand as the pain recedes.

Odd and Ulrich are at their diving spots. They put their arms down by their legs. Jim blows his whistle and the boys make a perfect dive into the water.

As they clear the water, the pain in my head returns in full force, and I cry out as I grip my head once more.; it feels like my skull is trying to explode. I groan in pain.

 **Inside Aelita's mind**

 **Vision**

I'm back in the abandoned house and it's daytime again. Except this time I can see things more clearly and it's the Hermitage. There are the same three men in black are here again.

I squeak out a yelp as I make my way toward the staircase, nearly tumbling down the steps in my hurry to escape. I can hear them chasing me, growing closer with each step. I reach the end of the staircase and risk a glance behind me; more black-clad men are following in stride. My yelp turns into a gasp, and I continue racing towards the backyard entrance.

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside Lila and Aelita's room**

 **POV Lila's**

I cross out another number on MB's laptop.

 _This laptop really feels impossible… at least I can use this free time to crack MB's code. I've tried so many up till now – I wonder if cracking the code on this laptop is going to be worth it in the end?_ I think. My phone rings; it's Jeremy. I answer it and hold it up to my ear.

"Jeremy?" I ask.

 _"Are you in your room? Aelita had a bit of an accident but she's okay."_

"I am. What happened?"

 _"We're not too sure right now but she said she'll tell us when she gets to yours and her room."_ Jeremy's voice starts to waver. " _She… fell into the swimming pool but I saved her. She's okay, she just needs to rest I think,"_ Jeremy replies.

"Okay. I'm here in the room so just bring her here," I say.

"Right," Jeremy says, hanging up.

 **Afterwards**

Aelita sits upright in her bed. I sit beside her, while Ulrich is sitting close to the end of the bed. Odd is there too, lounging at the edge, and Jeremy is sitting on the chair from my desk. Sissi is sitting in the middle of the room on Aelita's chair, and Yumi is laying against the wall next to Jeremy. All of us have our eyes trained on her.

"This time it was much more detailed," Aelita says vividly. "There was still the men in black, but I was at the Hermitage." She shudders.

"The doctor said you passed out from the cold," Yumi says slowly.

"Maybe but what about the visions? Where are they coming from Jeremy?" Aelita asks.

"I haven't the slightest idea, although I am sure it's no big deal. The best thing for you is to get some rest now. We'll talk about it later," Jeremy replies.

"I think that might be for the best," I agree.

Yumi checks her phone, I assume for the time,

"Right, I've got to go. I'm already late," she says before hurrying out of the room.

Jeremy checks his watch.

"We should get going too, or Mrs. Hertz is going to kill us," he says.

"Aelita maybe I can to talk you about this Hermitage place after classes are finished?" Sissi asks. "I know we used the entrance that one time, but I feel like I'm missing some important details."

Aelita nods, and Sissi gets up her chair and looks to Odd and Ulrich. "Come on you two."

"Right. Well, feel better Princess," Odd says encouragingly.

"And call us if you need anything," Ulrich adds.

The three of them exit the room, closing the door behind them.

"I will," Aelita calls after them, then turns to the rest of us. "Lila, Jeremy, you two should probably get going. You'll be just as late as they are," Aelita says.

Jeremy nods, getting off from the chair and I get off the bed. He slings his messenger bag over his shoulder.

"Right, if you're sure," I say. Aelita nods. Getting up, I go to our shared open closet and get my backpack, then shoulder it before heading out. Jeremy sticks behind, lingering by the doorway. Finally, he says, "See you in a bit Aelita. Lila and I will check on you after science class."

 **POV Aelita's**

Waving Jeremy goodbye; he closes the door. I sigh and remove my blanket, then slide off the bed and stand to my feet.

 _The only way to figure out what these nightmares are is to go to the source… the Hermitage. I've got to get out of these pajamas and go straight there. Jeremy, Lila, I hope you two won't be too angry with me,_ I think.

 **In Mrs. Hertz's class**

 **POV Lila's**

All of us are sitting in our usual spots in Mrs. Hertz's class. I'm sitting with Sissi, and Jeremy is sitting behind me with Odd and Ulrich sitting behind him. Thankfully Mrs. Hertz ended up being late herself, so the rest of the class is just getting settled in.

"Settle down and be quiet please," Mrs. Hertz's requests. "Open your books to page 99."

"I forgot to check something," Jeremy says. I look at him.

"What's that?" I ask. Jeremy opens his messenger bag and takes out his laptop. He opens his laptop and lets it load, then starts typing on it.

Jeremy's laptop starts beeping; I sigh internally.

 _Great, that's all we need,_ I think.

"Oh… no." Jeremy shakes his head "An activated tower. That's what I was afraid of," he sighs.

"What should we do?" Sissi whispers.

"We need to leave," Jeremy answers. Sissi nods and raises her hand.

"Yes Elizabeth?" Mrs. Hertz asks.

"Ma'am I'm not feeling very well. Could I please be excused?" Sissi asks.

We raise our hands and ask in unison: "And can we take her?"

"Elizabeth you may very well be the principal's daughter but unless it's serious we need to begin today's lesson," Mrs. Hertz's reply. Sissi sighs and slouches back into her chair, the four of us put our hands down.

"And Jeremy put that computer away before I take it away," Mrs. Hertz's adds. Jeremy nods and closes his laptop.

 _Just our luck…_ I think bitterly.

"She knows I hate being called Elizabeth," Sissi mumbles.

 **At the crossroads**

 **POV Aelita's**

As I make my way down the crossroad, I can't help but feel determined to find out the cause of these nightmares. I continue down the path, my eyes closed as I try to focus in on my dream.

 **Inside Aelita's mind**

 **Vision**

A flash of yellow reveals the three men in black as they appear within the Hermitage. One of them starts walking towards me. The image flashes yellow again, showing the front gate to the Hermitage.

 **End of Vision**

 _Just as I thought. I guess my assumption was correct after all,_ I think.

 **Afterwards**

Finally getting to close vicinity of the Hermitage, I look at the abandoned house.

 _Time to get some answers,_ I think determinedly.

 **POV Lila's**

I continue writing down notes from Mrs. Hertz's lecture, but I can't seem to focus on it too much.

 _I really am worried about Aelita… if I could I'd text her on her phone, but Mrs. Hertz's is already in a bad mood. Best not to push my luck,_ I think.

"Mercury freezes at 38 degrees below zero Celsius at room temperature. It is therefore in a liquid state. We use it in certain devices such as thermometers for instance because it expands with heat," Mrs. Hertz explains.

 **POV Aelita's**

Having passed the front gate of the Hermitage, I continue walking in the yard and reach the steps. I walk up the steps and reach the front porch. I open the door, and it makes a creaking sound.

I enter the abandoned house. For some reason, my mind flashes yellow to a point where the house looked normal. With frames on the wall and the lamp on the desk near the stairwell leading downstairs isn't broken. The memory flash ends and I'm black in reality.

 _Everything is the exact opposite…Just what happened to this place… and why do I have memories of it?_ I think.

I walk down the hall as I peer into a room, it seems to be an old study room possibly. I'm not entirely sure. I continue walking down the hall and turn to the living room. Scanning the room, a lot of paper is trashed all over on an old couch, an old table, even in the fireplace. Something curious catches my eyes; a pair of shoes.

They look really old… and they're destroyed. But for some reason, these shoes don't appear to be as old as everything else in here. It seems we missed them the first time my friends and I were in here.

 _Did… did someone come into the house recently besides my friends and me? But who… who could have known about this place?_ I think.

My memory flashes again to a much cleaner living room. This time, there's a man with grey hair, a white lab coat, and black jeans. He's wearing brown shoes, and he's playing on the piano. The song sounds… familiar. I walk by the man in the lab coat, and watch him play the piano from behind him as he's sitting in his chair. Tilting my head, I stare at him curiously as he continues to play the song.

 _I know this song… at least I think I do…_ I think.

My memory flash ends, and the man disappears. I gasp and try to relax.

"Calm down Aelita," I tell myself.

 **POV Lila's**

I continue to write down notes from Mrs. Hertz's lecture.

"It's a very extremely heavy metal. Which means… what? Sissi?" Mrs. Hertz asks, calling on her; Sissi seems to have been drawing something, instead of paying attention. Which is probably why Mrs. Hertz's just referred to her as Sissi.

"Um… it means – it means that a pound of metal weighs nearly a ton?" Sissi asks, chewing the end of her pen.

Mrs. Hertz's looks at Sissi with disappointment. A lot of our classmates laugh, but Odd, Ulrich, Jeremy, and I don't.

 _At least she tried... I_ think.

The bells ring, signaling class is finally at an end. I pack up my notebook and pencil and put them in my bag. Sissi does the same with her materials. Sissi and I get up from our chairs, and Jeremy is the first one to get out of the classroom.

Putting my backpack on, I shoulder it as Sissi does the same with hers and we walk out of the classroom together ignoring our classmates' laughter.

"Warn Yumi, I'll go get Aelita. Meet us at the factory," Jeremy says. He starts walking away from us.

"Right we will," I say. Ulrich and Odd exit the classroom with the other students.

"Where's Einstein?" Odd asks.

"He's going to get Aelita. Ulrich, can you let Yumi know about the activated tower?" I ask.

"Right," Ulrich replies as we start walking in the direction Jeremy did.

"You know… I really am trying to do better in class," Sissi says.

"We know Sissi," I say.

 **Inside the Hermitage**

 **POV Aelita's**

I walk up the staircase. Walking up the stairs, I reach the upstairs and see the old room where we found Mister Puck. The door having been left opened by us. I gasp at the sight of it… something feels different about it. I walk to the room and then reaching it, I enter the room.

The room looks different from what I remember… there are toys on the ground. A white blanket on the arch of the bed, there's a doll by one of the opened drawers. I put my hand on my head.

"Calm down Aelita. Your mind is starting to play tricks on you now," I tell myself.

My phone starts ringing and my memory flash ends, snapping my mind back into reality. Taking my phone from my jumper's pocket, I look at the ID and see Jeremy's name. I press the talk button and I put the phone to my ear.

"Jeremy?" I ask.

 _"Aelita, where are you?"_

"At the Hermitage," I reply.

 _"But you should be resting."_

"These visions are haunting me. I've got to find out where they're coming from."

 _"Right…"_ Jeremy trails off. _"Anyway listen, you ought to know that Xana's on the offensive. The others are already at the factory. Don't move. I'll come and get you,"_ he says.

"I'm big enough to make it to the factory myself," I protest.

 _"Okay, but hurry,"_ Jeremy insists. I end the call and put the phone back into my pocket.

Going over to the broken window, my memory flashes and I see the three men in black. I gasp and back away. My memory flashes again and the old man in the lab coat opens the door. I see him clearly now with glasses and his beard.

"Aelita, come quickly," the old man in the lab coat beckons. I snap back into reality.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" I ask making my way to the opened door.

Reaching the doorway, I walk out of the room and I walk to the staircase.

Reaching the staircase, I start walking down. I continue walking down the staircase. Soon reaching the end of the staircase, I look at where I had entered the house and gasp as my memory flashes. The three men in black are in the hallway. I yelp, frightened by them.

I start running toward the staircase leading to the basement, then trip over myself trying to make it down them. At the bottom I look to my right; one of the men in black has separated from the other two.

Gasping, I look ahead and resume in running. I keep running and I reach the end of the basement, and I see a door. I open the door and close it. It seems I'm outside the Hermitage now.

 _This… this is just like before. Back when I first found this place and I knew about the secret passageway,_ I think. I look to the passageway leading to the sewers, and just as I do my memory flashes. The old man in the lab coat opens the door.

"This way," he beckons. Running, I go to the door and open it. I run to the staircase that leads down the stairs.

 _The old man in the lab coat knew about the secret passage way… but that doesn't explain how I knew about it, just like how I knew who Mister Puck was without ever seeing the toy elf before. Do…. I have some sort of connection with the old man in the lab coat and this place? No… I couldn't. That would be impossible… there's got to be a way of finding an explanation to all of this. At any consolation… there's only one person who would know about this passage way. Franz Hopper, he's the old man in the lab coat. He has to be,_ I think.

 **Inside the lab**

 **POV Lila's**

Sissi and I had placed our backpacks by the wall earlier. Jeremy has his by the chair.

"Aelita should be here soon. Just thirty seconds more and you can head to the scanners," Jeremy says.

"I hope she's okay," I mutter under my breath.

"Yeah me too," Sissi adds.

"What's Aelita up to anyways?" Ulrich asks.

"She said she'd be right over. I should have gone to pick her up," Jeremy says. The freight elevator's doors opens, and we turn to see Aelita has finally arrived.

 _Good, she's here at last. That's a relief,_ I think.

"Oh there you are at last. We said midnight on the dot," Odd references.

"Aelita are you okay?" Jeremy asks concerned. I look at Aelita…. She does seem bothered by something. She walks out of the freight elevator and towards us.

"I uh – I had some more visions. I saw a man and it was-" Aelita starts to explain but Jeremy interrupts her.

"Who?" Jeremy asks.

"Franz Hopper," Aelita replies.

"Huh, are you sure?" Yumi asks.

"I know it sounds crazy, but I'm sure it was him," Aelita replies.

"Wait, can we back up a second? Who is this Franz Hopper?" Sissi asks.

"He's the man who owns the Hermitage. We think he has something to do with Lyoko. And he was also a teacher at Kadic Academy," Jeremy explains.

"Hopper? Why do I feel like I know that name?" Sissi asks.

"Huh… how could you possibly know that name Sissi? I mean Hopper isn't exactly common, but there's no way you could have known it. He taught at the school a long time ago. Years in fact," Jeremy replies.

"Maybe I'm mistaken. But then why have visions of this guy?" Sissi asks.

"I'm not sure," Aelita replies.

Odd seems to be thinking about some then points to Aelita.

"What if this is Xana's offensive?" he asks.

I look at Odd…. My father had thought that too. Could he have gotten that idea from Odd? That would be rather surprising.

"What?" Aelita asks.

"I mean these strange visions," Odd replies. Jeremy points to him.

"Exactly. Xana is perfectly capable of stimulating your cerebral cortex through the virus that links you to him, and from that he can psychologically simulate in you an artificial sleep and the involuntary psychic activity that goes with it," he explains.

 _But if that's true… then why wouldn't Xana try that with me since I'm linked with him and Mary? It doesn't make sense… I mean I know Aelita was born here on Earth and everything. But she doesn't regain her memories for a while now… so… could this really be Xana's attack?_ I think.

"In short, you mean Xana is showing you free movies," Odd simplifies.

"But why?" Ulrich asks.

"Let's not hang around to find out. Let's go and deactivate the tower," Odd urges. He starts walking toward the freight elevator; the rest of us follow him.

"Before I forget," Aelita says. We look at her.

"There were these shoes in the living room… they were destroyed and they didn't seem as old as everything else in the room, suggesting that someone put them there on purpose," Aelita mentions.

 _Oops… I had forgotten about those shoes_ , I think.

"So someone went inside the Hermitage before us? Strange…" Jeremy trails off. He puts his headset on, we walk to the freight elevator and we enter the freight elevator. I press the red button to go down and the doors close.

 **Afterwards**

 **Lyoko's Desert Sector**

Sissi and I are the last ones to be virtualized, landing safely on the desert ground. Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi are on their vehicles. Aelita seems to have been waiting for us, since she isn't on a vehicle yet.

"Better activate my powers while I have the chance to," Sissi says. "Lady Luck!" she shouts. The slots on her bracer spin, then lock in. She smiles at the symbols she has and gets onto her Overbike.

I head for my broomstick and hop on, Aelita climbing on behind me.

 _"The tower is due north. You're all there now, so don't waste any time,"_ Jeremy says from the computer. Odd takes off on his Overboard, followed by Ulrich, then Sissi. Sissi's Overbike leaves a pink trail behind her, while Yumi takes off on her Overwing. I kick my broomstick into the air and take off, so that Aelita and I can catch up with the others.

Aelita is pretty quiet as we catch up to the others.

 _"Xana's monsters up ahead! See them?"_ Jeremy pipes in.

"We'd have to be as nearsighted as you to NOT see them," Odd jokes.

Guiding my broomstick I make a turn with the others as we see a Tarantula, and four Bloks. The six of us group up.

"Odd, Sissi, you two handle the Bloks. Yumi, Lila, and I will take care of the Tarantula," Ulrich decides.

"You got it!" Odd exclaims and takes off.

"Roger that!" Sissi exclaims. She revs her Overbike up and takes off as well. Aelita gets off from my broomstick. Ulrich, Yumi, and I drive off to catch up to Odd and Sissi.

"Ground and air attack. Lila, do you think you can take care of the Tarantula with an arrow while Ulrich and I distract it?" Yumi asks.

"Sure can," I reply. Getting my bow out, I communicate with my broomstick to continue driving without my assistance. Letting it take the wheel, it goes up to the air as Ulrich and Yumi get off their vehicles. Ulrich's Overbike drives away, and I get an arrow out of my quiver.

Channeling my powers, my lightning bolt amulet glows and I start pumping electricity into the arrow as Odd and Sissi begins attacking the Bloks. Odd is using his Laser Arrows and Sissi is launching three blue spades at her two Bloks.

Ulrich starts super sprinting back and forth in front of the Tarantula in order to distract it. Placing her hands on her head, Yumi starts using her telepathy and her body begins glowing pink. The Tarantula is confused as to who to focus on, and I aim my electrified arrow at the Tarantula's head.

 _This will be over in no time,_ I think, holding the arrow and I pull the drawstring back.

 **POV Aelita's**

As I hear my friends fighting, I step closer to the edge of the sector. The Transporter Orb hovers from below and I look at it determined.

 _"Aelita, what are you doin_ g _?"_ Jeremy asks.

The Transporter Orb begins to open up and move towards me.

"Sorry Jeremy, but I've got to find some answers as to where these visions are coming from," I reply. The Transporter Orb opens and scoops me up as it takes me to Sector Five.

 **POV Lila's**

Having defeated the Tarantula and three of the Bloks, a single Blok remains. The Blok fires at Ulrich and he's hit by the laser. He's thrown to the ground as his body begins sparking. Odd and Sissi continue to evade the lasers by flying around the Blok.

"I need a clear shot! Hold still you stupid Blok-head!" I growl, charging my arrow.

Yumi cartwheels in front of the Blok as it tries firing at her. She dodges the lasers by jumping around and then using her hand she jumps onto the Blok's head. It starts moving about, trying to shake her off. Yumi gets her Tessen Fan and opens it, she throws it at the target eye, slicing it in two.

I dispel my electricity and put my arrow back in it's quiver, and return the bow to its hook. Yumi jumps off the Blok and lands beside Ulrich. The Blok explodes and Yumi's Tessen Fan returns to her. She closes it and puts it away.

"Way to go Yumi," Ulrich compliments. He gets up and takes his Katana blade that had gotten stuck in the ground while fighting. He puts it back in his sheath, and I walk over to them. Odd and Sissi use their vehicles to drive back to them. All of us regrouping, Jeremy informs:

 _"Xana's succeeded. Aelita's gone to Sector Five. You have to get there fast."_

"But why would she do that?" Sissi asks.

"Think about it Sissi. If the visions are apart of Xana's plan, then that means Aelita is walking into a trap," Ulrich explains.

"And without us there to protect her, she's all alone. She'll be completely vulnerable to the Scyphozoa…" I trail off.

"I get the picture. Let's go then!" Sissi exclaims. We nod and start running to the edge of the sector. With the edge of the sector close by, we reach it and wait for Jeremy to call up the Transporter Orb.

The Transporter Orb hovers up seemingly from out of nowhere. It opens up and then scoops all of us as it brings us to Sector Five.

 **Sector Five**

 **Arena Room**

The Transporter Orb releases us, and the room begins spinning. Odd groans, probably from his usual nausea from using the Transporter Orb.

 _It's a good thing you can't actually barf on Lyoko…_ I think.

The room continues spinning but then slows down. The walls align and all of us start running. We run through the doorway. The walls then open one by one, leaving us a straight path. The walls fully open and Odd is the first one to run in.

"It looks like the corridor is still there!" Odd shouts, running ahead.

" _That's because the countdown is still ticking,"_ Jeremy informs.

We continue running along the path, the walls still opening one by one, when Jeremy says:

 _"Oh no Aelita!"_ Jeremy's voice is a yell in our ears. _"The Scyphozoa has taken hold of Aelita. It's taking her memory!"_

"We're almost there!" Ulrich yells. The walls fully open and he super sprints ahead. The rest of us run faster to match his speed. Ulrich reaches the room first and the rest of us then reach it. We can't see Aelita or the Scyphozoa due to the room's floor and ceiling, shifting in block formations.

"Great," Odd snaps. "A leap frog contest. Lila, any visions yet?"

I shake my head.

"No, probably not needed this time since the was still here. Let's just try to get to Aelita, but quickly!" I exclaim.

"Right!" Odd, Yumi, Ulrich and Sissi nod in unison. I concentrate electricity to the soles to my feet, my lightning bolt amulet glows. The five of us start jumping on one block to another; Yumi makes a leap across another block and nearly misses it. She screams but grabs the block and pulls herself up. Odd uses both of his paws as backs up and runs on a block. He jumps off it and yells as he flies across. He misses the edge of the block and using his paws, he grabs onto the bottom of the block.

Sissi is leaping from block to block rather easily as I continue channelling electricity to the soles of my feet. I make my way across the blocks as I continue trying to make my way to Aelita. I hear Odd yell as I look back at him, he was just devirtualized by a ceiling block that smashed him.

 _"Hurry it up!"_ Jeremy exclaims worried.

"You think this is easy?" Ulrich yells back.

It sounds like he's closest to me. I've got to make these next leaps count, I think. Backing up, I concentrate a bit more electricity to the soles of my feet. I run and jump into the air. I land on a block, and repeat until I'm just close enough to Aelita and the Scyphozoa. The Scyphozoa continues draining Aelita's memories, and I quickly take out my hunter's knife from its sleeve.

Jumping onto another block that's inches away from Aelita and the Scyphozoa I'm about to slash its tentacles when it suddenly releases Aelita. She looks up at the Scyphozoa then at me. I go to my friend, standing in front of her protectively, then slash the Scyphozoa tentacles.

The giant jellyfish monster screeches in pain before retreating into a nearby room.

Using his super sprint, Ulrich appears at our side.

 _"Nice timing,"_ Jeremy says,

"Lila's got Aelita. How's Odd?" Ulrich asks.

 _"He's okay. Yumi and Sissi are finding the key, seems they've located it. Which is good, because you're at the end of the countdown,"_ Jeremy replies.

The floor and ceiling stops moving. The floor and ceiling returns to normal. Yumi and Sissi run over to us, then passing us, Ulrich says to Aelita:

"Let's go Princess."

"Okay," Aelita says. The three of us start running to catch up to Yumi and Sissi.

 **By the elevator**

The four of us are waiting for the elevator. Hearing it approaching, Aelita says:

"Here comes the elevator. Now!"

All of us jump down and land safely on the elevator. The elevator brings us to the entrance of the Celestial Dome. Fixing it's position, the four of us run to the door that leads to the bridge. We start running to the door and it begins to open.

 _"As soon as you get you to the Celestial Dome, head to the desert sector fast. Okay Aelita?"_

The door fully opens, and we run inside.

 **Celestial Dome**

 **On the bridge**

We run onto the bridge and our vehicles are already there waiting for us. Yumi leaps onto her Overwing, Ulrich jumps onto his Overbike, and Sissi runs over to her Overbike. She leaps onto it and I get onto my broomstick that is next to Ulrich's Overbike.

Instead of getting onto one of our vehicles, the data interface pops up and Aelita starts using her hands to touch the interface and start searching for something.

"Aelita, come on. You heard what Jeremy said," Sissi says.

 _"Sissi's right. We're not looking for any data today Aelita. You need to deactivate the tower in the desert sector,"_ Jeremy reminds her. Ulrich and I look at her.

"Aelita!" Ulrich begs.

"Please Aelita, I know you want answers but now is definitely not a good time," I say.

"This will only take a few seconds," Aelita insists.

 _"It's one of Xana's traps Aelita. He created these visions to lure you into Sector Five. Give me the controls."_

Hearing a noise coming from above, Aelita doesn't reply to Jeremy. Looking up, Ulrich, Yumi, Sissi, and I see the flying Mantas are beginning to hatch.

 _"Aelita did you hear me?"_ Jeremy asks. _"Aelita?"_ he asks again. I look at her… she continues to not reply to him.

 _Aelita just what are you thinking?_ I think.

 _"Ulrich, Yumi, Sissi, Lila. drag her out of there by force,"_ Jeremy requests. My eyes widen.

"Are you serious right now Jeremy?" I ask.

"Yeah, what do you want us to do? Knock her out?" Yumi asks.

"It won't be necessary. I'm sure I'll find what I'm looking for," Aelita replies. Ulrich and Yumi looks at each other then nods. Sissi and I look at one another then nod too. Looking up, we see three flying Mantas have hatched. They start flying.

The three of us take off in our vehicles so that we can give Aelita some time to look for the answers she's looking for. Connecting myself to the broomstick telepathically, I let it guide me as I get up. I wobble a bit and the I take my bow off its hook as the Mantas start charging their lasers. Yumi, Ulrich, and Sissi go on ahead.

Taking one arrow, I focus my powers. My amulet glows and I charge it with electricity and nock it. I pull the drawstring to my cheek and let the arrow fly at one of the Mantas. The arrow passes Yumi, Sissi, and Ulrich and manages to hit the target eye on the Mantas head, shocking the Manta and the Manta explodes.

"Nice one Lila!" Sissi compliments.

I put my bow back on its hook, and disperse my electricity, then Ulrich, Yumi, Sissi, and I take control of our vehicles once more. The four of us split into separate directions; Ulrich and Yumi let one manta follow them while Sissi and I let the second manta trail us. As we fly, it releases mines before speeding up.

Sissi takes her baton and grips it, readying herself. Several mines float her way, and she takes a swing at them. A burst of wind sweeps into the mines, knocking one into the other and exploding the pair. I've grab my bow and nocking an arrow, when Jeremy's voice stops me.

 _"The Scyphozoa has Aelita! Lila, get to her please!"_

I return my arrow and bow to their places, then turn to where Aelita is back on the bridge, I see that the Scyphozoa has taken hold of her. Its tentacles pulse red as they once again leech Aelita's memory away from her body. Its tentacles attached to her head.

"I've got this, go to her!" Sissi shouts as she revs up her Overbike and takes off, letting the Manta chase her.

 _Broomstick, mach speed. Get me to Aelita, fast!_ I command. The broomstick follows my command and I grip the sides of it, letting it take control as it rockets me over to Aelita and the bridge. As I fly to her, I see Yumi and Ulrich are still dealing with their Manta.

They dodge the now exploding mines as I stand on my broomstick. The broomstick slowly brings me down to the bridge. Taking out my hunter's knife from its sleeve, I jump down and land on the floor of the bridge next to the Scyphozoa, slicing the tentacles as I drop. The Scyphozoa screeches in pain, then releases Aelita and retreats. I put my hunter's knife back in its sleeve and look down at Aelita.

"Are you okay Aelita?" I ask.

Waking up, she looks at me and rises to her feet. I hear the drone of one Manta remaining. Ulrich and Yumi pull up on Ulrich's Overbike. Sissi drives hers over to us.

"I think it's time we leave, and deactivated that tower. Don't you?" Sissi asks.

"Just what I was thinking," Yumi agrees.

Aelita hops onto Sissi's Overbike, while I command my broomstick. The broomstick descends and I climb on. Yumi gets on the Overbike with Ulrich, and all of us take off to the tunnels.

 _"The tunnels are opened!"_ Jeremy informs us from the computer. Sissi revs up her Overbike, causing Aelita to yelp and flies to the tunnel. Ulrich does the same with his Overbike, and I command my broomstick to go faster and to the tunnel as well, leaving the last flying Manta behind.

 **Afterwards**

 **Lyoko's Desert Sector**

 **At the activated tower**

Ulrich, Yumi, Sissi, and I watch Aelita slowly walk up to the tower and phase into the tower's "doorway."

Looking up to the tower, I think:

 _I really do hope these visions were caused by Xana. And I hope my restriction on me not telling the truth about who you are Aelita… won't affect our friendship._

The tower's aura shifts from red to blue.

 **Later in the afternoon**

 **Inside the cafeteria**

Having had some of our lunch, we're waiting for Aelita; she still hasn't arrived yet.

 _I hope she's going to be okay now without those visions,_ I think. Aelita soon arrives, and takes a seat with her tray of food next to me.

"Hi Aelita," Yumi greets. "Have you had anymore visions?" she asks.

"Gone," Aelita replies. "Thankfully."

"You see, it was just a trap made by Xana," Jeremy says.

"I guess. But I still would have really liked to know where those memories came from," Aelita says.

"I think Xana must have made the whole thing up," Ulrich surmises.

"Or the memories came from someone else. Implanted in you by Xana in order to scare you," Yumi adds.

"That could be it," Jeremy says.

"It's very strange though. I was really under the impression that I was reliving the events that I was seeing," Aelita explains.

"That however can't be," Jeremy says.

"Yes I know," Aelita sighs.

 _I wish I could tell you it is possible that you were reliving these events. I believe now this might be the only thing that makes sense… after all you did live here on Earth with Grandpa Schaeffer. One of these days… you'll be upset with me for not telling you the truth. I just know it…_ I think.

I look at Sissi as she seems to be thinking about something.

"What's wrong Sissi?" I ask her. We look at her.

"Well… even if it's true and that these visions Aelita had, were created by Xana, or by someone else. Why would I know the name 'Hopper'? I mean Aelita, you did say you had a vision of him, right?" Sissi asks.

"I… I did. But how would you know that name Sissi?" Aelita asks.

"I'm not sure. If he was a teacher here at Kadic once then I suppose the only possible reason, I heard his name is from my father. Maybe he knew Hopper," Sissi replies.

"You think your father knew Hopper?" Ulrich asks.

"I honestly don't know. That's what's bugging me," Sissi replies.

"Well in any case Sissi, I definitely think you're just overthinking that name," Odd says.

"You think so?" Sissi asks.

Odd nods. Sissi turns to us and looks at us for confirmation. The rest of us nod too.

 _There's definitely no way Sissi could even know about Grandpa Schaeffer and Aelita living here on Earth. That… would just be impossible. In any case, if Delmas knew Grandpa Schaeffer… let's just hope he never saw Aelita with him,_ I think.

* * *

Author's Note: Sissi knowing Hopper's name is a reference to the Season 4 episode when Odd accidentally sends a picture of Aelita and Franz Hopper to Sissi.

The old shoes Lila keeps forgetting to take out of the Hermitage is a running gag. Eventually she will remember to take those shoes out of there. Eventually... haha.

I hope everyone liked the memory from the most recent filler chapter of the Adventures of Lila Belpois. Those chapters are canon to Changing Destiny: Lila's Journey!, as I'm sure I've mentioned before. Even though dark saga Lila died, both dark saga Lila and New Adventures Lila share the same memories of everything they've experienced. One of them just lives longer (N.A. Lila).

Lila's electricity powers are different from what I have done in the past. I don't have an exact science to them so they can work in any way. Even though in previous chapters I've had Lila say "My lightning bolt charges," she is referring to her necklace she has which is a lightning bolt. I just don't use lightning bolt necklace because it might become too repetitive. So you'll be seeing Amulet, Pendant, and other synonyms for necklace popping up every now and then.

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Until the next update,

Don't forget to review!

LyokoWarrior1994


	45. Tip-Top Shape

**Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is copyrighted by Moonscoop.**

* * *

This chapter was written by me. It was edited by **AeroJester203.**

I only Lila. Mary is owned by **AeroJester203.**

* * *

Author's Note: Hi everyone, a little note about the chapter Deja Vu. Originally in the episode Aelita woke up the whole dorm from her screaming. I had written this out because that scene was in fact an animation error. Every now and then I have seen animation errors for Code Lyoko. It's a bit of a head scratcher honestly.

When Aelita woke the whole dorm up, all of the students, including Jeremy, Odd, and Ulrich, (even Jim) appeared to be on the same floor. It was already established that the boy's dorm is upstairs and that the girl's dorm is downstairs in the show. I felt as far as continuity is concerned, that cutting that opening of the episode was best for the chapter. Lila rushing to Aelita's side as she usually does, has been better for Aelita because Lila can help calm her down quickly, without causing everyone to wake up.

As far as why Mister Puck wasn't by Aelita's side after she was told to rest in her room, I honestly didn't even realize Mister Puck was in the episode. On my part, that is my fault for forgetting, however Lila was able to comfort her after Aelita returned to their room. So while I forgot to include Mister Puck, it's not like Aelita doesn't care about him or anything. He's just put away in the one of her desk drawers, so that way if she needs him, he'll be close by. Eventually I'll bring this up in a near future chapter.

I still can't thank you all enough for reading this fanfiction. This chapter is a much shorter one, but I promise you the next three chapters will be much longer. So many surprises are coming your way!

* * *

Enjoy!

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 _Tip-Top Shape_

* * *

 **In the hallway**

 **Outside the infirmary**

 **POV Lila's**

All of us are sitting in the hall by the Miss Yolanda's office, waiting to get our checkups. Some students are talking, while others are nervous. Herb and Milly are talking, and I catch Emily looking at me. She turns away, seeming almost annoyed by my presence. Shrugging, I open MB's laptop up since I have a wait ahead of me. Looking at the eight hyphens, I sigh internally.

 _I've gotten just about 100 combinations entered on this laptop… but there's still so many left,_ I think. _What kind of person would make it an eight-digit coded laptop, and what would the code be?!_

I thump the back of my head against the wall behind me, then rub it when the area starts throbbing.

"Ow… that was stupid," I say to myself.

Deciding to type on the keyboard, I take out my notepad of used combinations and key in the numbers before pressing enter. The laptop doesn't do anything yet again.

"I hate you," I grumble, closing the laptop in annoyance. I write down the latest sequence on my notebook before shutting it as well.

"Jeremy Belpois, Odd Della Robbia, and Julian Acel," Miss Yolanda calls out while opening her door.

"Go on, Rambo, blow them away!" Ulrich calls to Odd. Sissi laughs from her position next to him. I look at the three boys as they enter the nurse's office with Miss Yolanda then turn to Ulrich and Sissi.

"Who's Rambo?" I ask them, having never heard the name.

Ulrich blinks and starts saying, "He's this… uh, never mind."

Aelita sits down next to me and looks at me, "Any luck on the laptop?"

"No…" I reply.

"Mind if I try?"

Shrugging, I pass the laptop and notepad to her, "Be my guest."

She opens the laptop and starts typing on the keyboard. Once Aelita enters a combination, she waits for something to happen. Nothing does, so she writes down the number she came up with on my notebook. Looking around, I catch Emily staring at me again.

More annoyed than the first time I caught her looking at me, I get up with a sigh and walk over to her. Looking down at her still sitting, I ask, "Emily… did I do something to bother you?"

"What do you mean?" she asks nonchalantly.

"You keep staring at me, like my very presence bothers you," I reply shortly.

Emily fixes her glasses to the bridge of her nose, "So?"

I cross my arms, getting more annoyed, " _So,_ it's annoying, and rude if I might add."

"Oh? I'm annoying, huh?" Emily retorts, glaring at me.

I feel a few of the students' eyes on me. Sighing, I go back to Aelita and sit down.

"You okay?" Aelita asks while writing down another number that didn't work.

"Not really. I just hate being stared at… I mean, this red dye doesn't help, and I miss my hair being long," I explain, looking at Sissi.

"I said I was sorry about that," she defends while looking away.

I shake my head, "I know, I know. I'm just not sure what Emily's problem is…"

The door opens, and Miss Yolanda lets Jeremy, Odd, and Julian out.

"Elizabeth Delmas, Aelita Stones, please," she requests. Closing the laptop, Aelita gives it to me and gets up along with Sissi. She walks over to Jeremy and winks at him for some reason as she and Sissi go to Miss Yolanda. They enter the office while Jeremy comes to sit with me.

"How was the check up?" I ask him.

He shrugs, "It was fine. Not for Julian, though. Seems he might need a pair of glasses."

"There's nothing wrong with glasses," I smile.

"Yeah. So, who are you supposed to do your check up with?"

"Emily…" I grumble.

Jeremy nods before he notices Aelita's handwriting on the notebook, "Still no luck with the laptop?"

"Nope."

"Can I try?" he asks.

"You're more than welcome to it," I reply, passing the items over.

Opening the laptop up, Jeremy takes the pen and starts typing a number.

 _Hopefully this checkup goes well…_ I think.

Hearing a faint beeping from his messenger bag, Jeremy closes the laptop and runs over to check his own. I put MB's laptop in my backpack and shoulder it.

Jeremy pulls his laptop out and opens it while Odd, Ulrich, and I go over to him.

"Activated tower," he says before closing the computer.

"In the middle of a medical checkup?" Ulrich asks. "Xana has no respect for anything."

Jeremy stored his laptop again and shouldered the bag, "Ulrich, stay here and wait for Aelita and Sissi. Once they're done with their medical exams, have them get to the factory. Odd, Lila, and I will head over there now."

"Okay," Ulrich nods.

 **In the woods**

After running through the park, the three of us reach the woods where we meet up with Yumi. Odd slides the manhole grate aside and I start climbing down the ladder, Jeremy and Odd following while Yumi puts the grate back before coming along.

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside the lab**

Having put my backpack against the wall, I look at Jeremy. He starts typing on the keyboard, his headset already on. A ringing comes from the monitor with Ulrich's face on screen. Jeremy answers and asks, "Ulrich, what happened?"

" _It's Yolanda, Xana possessed her and it looks like she took off with Aelita out the window,"_ Ulrich tersely reports. _"Sissi was knocked out for a bit, but we're both on our way after her."_

He then hangs up, and Jeremy worriedly says, "Without Aelita, we can't deactivate the tower. And if Xana takes us out, then she'll be helpless on Lyoko with the Scyphozoa."

"How about we block the elevator?" Odd suggests. "That might buy us a little time."

"Okay." He starts typing and a window showing the elevator's design pops up. The elevator is blocked before it can even start going down. "But it's only going to give us five or six minutes; there are other ways here from the factory."

"What do you suggest?" Yumi asks.

Jeremy thinks for a moment and inspiration seems to strike, "Well, we could do battle with Yolanda on equal terms," Jeremy answers.

She blinks in surprise, "Wait, what?"

"I've been studying Xana's spectres for a while now; I think I could manage to pixelize you," Jeremy explains. "And for a longer period of time than last time."

Odd grins, "Cool! I can't wait to be Jeremified again."

"All the same Odd, this will be different than last time," I say. "You'll be fighting another possessed person."

"I know," he nods.

"But isn't this a bit… risky?" Yumi asks.

"I could say no, but I'd be lying," Jeremy answers with a shake of his head. "The last time around, Odd wasn't even possessed for a full minute. This time, if it's longer, I'm not sure what effects it'll have on your body."

I speak up, "Then I have a suggestion. Let me be Jeremified."

"What? I want to!" Odd complains.

I look at Odd, "Think about it Odd; I'm not human. Meaning my body and mind can handle being pixelized by Jeremy. I've already worked with Mary on Lyoko before. Her extra power never affected me, so it stands to reason Jeremy's spectre shouldn't affect me either."

"She's right, it shouldn't," Jeremy chimes in.

Sissi's picture and phone number pops up on the computer with a beeping sound. Jeremy presses the key to answer.

" _Jeremy, Ulrich and I are in the factory, but Miss Yolanda is heading for the corridor,"_ Sissi says. _"What should we do?"_

"You and Ulrich need to hold her off as long as you can," Jeremy answers. "Help's on the way."

There's a short silence, but then we hear Ulrich speak on Sissi's phone.

" _How much time do you need?"_ he asks.

"Ideally, about a month," Jeremy replies. "But I'll see what I can do to speed things up."

After Ulrich and Sissi hang up, I ask, "You'll have to activate a tower first, right?"

"That's right," he confirms, and he begins typing on the keyboard.

Looking at Odd, he seems a bit upset.

"Trust me, it's for the best, Odd," I reassure.

He pouts, but nods, "Okay…"

Jeremy continues typing until Yumi speaks up.

"Look!" she exclaims.

Looking at the computer's monitors, we see a tower activate on Lyoko's Mountain Sector. The super scan picks up the tower's location, pinpointing it precisely.

"Yes! Another success! Now then, thanks to the activated tower, I'm going to send a digital impulse which will –" Jeremy starts to explain, but I interrupt him.

"Jeremy, I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but we are pressed for time, aren't we? And after all, I remember from last time how this works," I smile.

He looks at me and smiles slightly, "Okay, yeah, let me just do the thing." Jeremy starts typing, and we see Aelita's number with her Lyoko picture popping up on the screen.

" _Jeremy?"_ she asks after he answers the call, sounding frightened.

Jeremy's brow furrows with worry, "Aelita, are you okay?"

 _"Yes, but I can't get through the corridor,"_ Aelita explains. _"Sissi and Ulrich are having a difficult time with Yolanda."_

"We're coming," he reassures. Jeremy then stops typing and looks at me, "This is going to be big time. Are you ready Lila?"

"I'm ready," I nod.

"Okay… here we go!" he exclaims, pressing the enter button. As we look at the cables from the supercomputer, a mass of black fog emerges from them, signifying a spectre. It starts making its way to me and phases into my chest. My nerves seem to go numb on contact for a moment as my image seems to blur with a digital silhouette superimposed over my body from what little I can see. But the deadened feeling gives way to prickles of sensation before I feel supercharged with energy and a glow of yellow energy flows around me.

The blurring shadow disappears soon after, and I remain silent as I take in the feeling. It's like I could take on the world with the superhuman amount of pure power going through my nerves.

"Well… uh, how do you feel Lila?" Odd gingerly asks.

Taking a deep breath and letting it out as I turn to him with a grin, I answer with a reverberation in my voice,

" **I'm all fired up now!"**

Jeremy starts typing on the keyboard and looks at the freight elevator displayed on the monitor, "Unlocking the elevator… now!" Jeremy exclaims. He hits the enter key and then pushes his glasses up, "You're good to go Lila."

" **Thanks,"** I say as the freight elevator arrives and the doors open up. I speed inside and press the red button to go up, the doors closing a moment later.

 **Afterwards**

 **On the factory level**

The freight elevator's hangar door opens. Spotting Ulrich and Sissi on the ground, I run over to them as fast as I can, leaving afterimages as I go. I stop for a moment, beginning to wake up, and I notice slight electrical burns on their bodies from Miss Yolanda's attack.

Eyes falling on Sissi for a moment longer, I think, _You've come such a long way, Sissi. I'll make sure your pain isn't for nothing._

Judging that they'll be okay, I make my way to the access corridor as fast as I can.

I arrive, and Miss Yolanda is about to attack Aelita when she sees me. This causes her to turn me, the symbol of Xana pulsing in her eyes. Aelita sneaks away, and I rush at the possessed nurse, knocking Miss Yolanda to the ground with a well-placed shoulder barge.

I look to Aelita and she seems shocked, having stopped moving away from the fight.

"What did you…" she begins asking, appearing lost for words.

" **It was Jeremy's idea,"** I answer. **"Hurry on."**

Aelita notices the way my voice sounds different, but nods and continues moving down the corridor.

Miss Yolanda gets up with a growl, drawing my attention back to her.

" **Seems we keep meeting like this, Xana,"** I note in my distorted voice. **"First Odd and Jim, then Jeremy, Aelita for a bit, then** **Cameron with his chip** **, and most recently, Emily, Herb and Nicholas. Unlike those other times, though, we'll be on even ground."**

She growls at me and starts channeling yellow energy around her. It starts to form in her hand, and condenses into a sphere. Yolanda throws it, but I channel electricity from my left hand to slow and divert the sphere to the side where it hits the stone wall and fizzles out, leaving a crack.

" **You'll have to do better than that,"** I taunt. **"Up for a game of tag?"**

Going into a run, I use the spectre inside me for a speed boost. Blurring once again to get back to the main entrance, I see Ulrich and Sissi are no longer there, which is a relief. They must be in the lab or on Lyoko by now.

Turning around, I see Miss Yolanda coming out, charging towards me at super speed.

Deciding to do the same, I run sideways to dodge the initial blitz and dash back to flank her. I jump in the air and attempt to kick her, but she grabs my leg while turning. I smirk and release another small burst of electricity at Miss Yolanda from my hand at point-blank range, causing her to release my leg.

I fall to the ground but immediately roll on my upper back in a spin and do a sweeping kick at Miss Yolanda's legs. Not reacting in time, she's knocked off her feet and falls while I use the momentum to swing my legs back and kip-up back to a standing position.

Running over to her fallen form, I pin her down. She struggles to get out of my grasp, so I send energy to my forehead, hoping it'll make a stronger impact, and I headbutt her, knocking her out.

 _I might not have the control to make those energy balls she's using, but powers make all the difference here,_ I muse gleefully, my head not even throbbing from the high-speed blow.

For some reason, her spectre isn't expelling from her, so I look around for something to tie her up with. Spotting a metal bar a distance away and guessing that I can bend it with my higher strength or mold it with concentrated electricity, I run over to grab it. But I hear another rush of high speed movement and whip around to see that Miss Yolanda is gone!

" **Where'd you go?!"** I demand, looking around. I make sure to check behind me, seeing as how Aelita was possessed a while back and she attacked from behind.

 _Who'd have thought XANA would play possum?_ I mentally grumble. _If she's not here… then where-_

" **Oh no!"** I realize, looking at the freight elevator and see that it's no longer there. _If Xana is getting desperate, he might just try killing one of us!_ I think.

Running to the edge of the elevator shaft, I bend the metal bar along the way and jump off to hook it around the steel wire cable. I magnetize the metal to keep me steady as I slide down at a swift but controlled pace. Once I reach the roof of the freight elevator itself, I detach the bar before yanking open the emergency hatch on the roof and dropping down. The doors haven't closed yet, most likely Jeremy locked the freight elevator down here. Taking the opportunity, I run into the lab, and Miss Yolanda charging a more powerful energy ball at Jeremy as he's backed up against a wall on the other side of the holosphere.

Throwing the bar with precise aim, it passes through the projection and hits her in the upper arm. The ball fizzles out from the break in her concentration and she turns to me with a grunt while Jeremy edges away.

" **Hey, Miss Yolanda!"** I exclaim in rage, the distortion on my voice seeming to grow worse.

" **Stay away from Jeremy!"**

Growling, Miss Yolanda charges another ball and sends it at me. It disrupts the holosphere momentarily as it passes through, and I easily dodge it. Running over to the side, she continues to draw more energy into her hand.

" _Jeremy! Aelita's just about to enter the tower!"_ Ulrich calls out from the supercomputer's speaker.

 _"Just hang on Jeremy!"_ Sissi exclaims.

I smirk, " **Ha, looks like it's over for you this time, Xana."**

Miss Yolanda stops drawing the energy. She looks at me and suddenly starts shaking violently, almost as if she's having a seizure. The spectre expels itself out of the nurse and heads towards me.

"Lila watch out!" Jeremy exclaims.

 _"Jeremy, she just made it_ inside!" Yumi informs.

I channel more electricity into my hand with a smile, " **Relax, Jeremy! I'm fully charged, remember?"**

I fire several bolts of electricity around the spectre, creating a field of sorts. Once it's set, the spectre is unable to phase out of it, trapped in a cage of electricity that I'm sustaining. Screeching in pain, the spectre begins to thrash in its bindings.

" _Tower deactivated,"_ we hear Aelita say.

The spectre soon disappears and I disperse my electricity.

Jeremy gets up and comes over, looking at Miss Yolanda's unconscious body, "So, what should we do about Miss Yolanda? We can always launch a return trip."

" **I don't think that's necessary.** **I have an idea,"** I suggest. **"I can bring her to the office, using the opened window she probably used to escape with Aelita. There are a few different entrances with that office, but this one will be the least suspicious one since I won't be spotted carrying her. After that, you can deactivate your tower for the spectre that's in me. Just give me a few minutes, and she'll be back there."**

"Right… and you're really feeling okay Lila?" he asks, unsurely.

" **Never better Jeremy. Never better,"** I smile.

Nodding, Jeremy moves out of the way and back to his chair. Sitting on it, he takes his headset then puts it on and adjusts the mic.

"Odd, I'm rematerializing you first okay? Sissi do you mind taking Aelita to the nearby way tower?" Jeremy asks.

 _"Roger that Einstein,"_ Odd says.

 _"And sure_ thing,"Using the energy, I heft Miss Yolanda up and drape her over my shoulders in a fireman's carry.

 **Shortly after**

 **Inside the infirmary**

Placing Miss Yolanda in her chair, I sit on the bed. Looking at the window, I smile, happy that it's closed now. Taking out my cell phone, I call Jeremy. The phone rings once, and he answers.

" **She's back in the office, Jeremy; you can un-Jeremify me now,"** I inform.

" _Okay. Doing it… now!"_ he signals.

My image distorts again, and the spectre expels itself out of me. The numbing sensation happens again during the process, but feeling returns more sedately. Honestly, I think it's like coming down from a sugar rush, not that I've ever had one before.

The spectre begins to rise into the air and then disappears entirely. Miss Yolanda groans a bit, and looks at me as she wakes up. She rubs her head, specifically, where I'd headbutted her.

"Lila… Smith?" the nurse asks before beginning to shake her head and then thinking better of it since she has a headache. "What are you doing in here? Where are Aelita Stones and Elizabeth Delmas?"

"Um… They left, don't you remember? After they did, you tripped and fell to the floor. You landed on your arm and hit your head, passing out. I didn't really… know what to do, so I moved you to your chair. There's a lot of us students waiting outside for you, to finish the checkups, ma'am. Are you feeling up to it?"

She squints her eyes in attempted concentration while rubbing the arm where I'd hit her with the bar, "Of course… I don't remember that at all, though. Very well, let's get on with it, then."

Getting up from the chair, she goes over to the door and opens it, "Emily LeDuc?" she calls out.

"Finally, we've been waiting for ages! Stones and Sissi really took their time!" Emily grumbles, coming into the nurse's office. Miss Yolanda closes the door, ignoring her comment.

When she sees me, her eyes narrow as she sets her bag down, "Oh, but you just _had_ to be the first one to sneak their way in and get a checkup after them, huh?"

"What is your problem with me?" I ask, crossing my arms.

"Who says I have a problem?" Emily retorts, not answering my question.

Yolanda holds up a hand while nursing her head with the other, "Girls, please… I have a rather strange headache from the fall, and I'd rather you both fight outside, if you must. But for now, it's time for your checkups."

"Fine…" Emily mutters, crossing her arms.

 **Later**

 **Just before dinner**

Thankfully, Yumi brought my backpack back from the lab before she had to go home. Miss Yolanda didn't attack MB's laptop, so either Xana doesn't know about it or he doesn't think it's as important as Grandpa Schaeffer's diaries. Ulrich and Sissi will be okay, their burns weren't too severe, nothing a little time won't heal. Typing on it now, I look at another number I've just entered. Nothing happens.

Sighing, I write down the number on my notebook of numbers and close the laptop.

 _I'm just glad none of the security measures have kicked in yet,_ I muse. _There must be a max number, though… I just hope soon one of us can crack it._

There's a knock at the door. Looking at it, I open my drawer and put MB's laptop in there with the copy of my father's laptop. Closing the drawer, I go to the door and open it up. It's Emily… and she appears to be holding a letter.

"Emily, what do you want?" I ask crossing my arms.

She frowns, but averts her gaze, "Look, I'm sorry how I acted today…" Appearing to grow more nervous, she looks down the hall before asking,

"Can we…. talk about Cameron?"

My eyes widen in surprise.

* * *

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

In:

 _Is Anybody Out There?_

* * *

Author's Note: Sorry about the cliffhanger! Also I wanted to apologize for the maintenance on Changing Destiny: Lila's Journey recently. I ended up deleting some chapters thinking I was in doc manager. I had to replace all of the chapters because they were in the wrong order and re-upload 3 previous chapters. Sorry if you received a lot of alerts over the weekend.

* * *

Don't forget to review!

LyokoWarrior1994


	46. Is Anybody Out There?

**Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is copyrighted by Moonscoop.**

* * *

This chapter was written by me. It was edited by **Discordant Night.**

I only own Lila. Mary is owned by **AeroJester203.**

* * *

 _Is Anybody Out There?_

* * *

 **Inside Lila and Aelita's room**

 **POV Lila's**

"You… want to talk about Cameron? Jones?" I ask. Emily nods and pushes her glasses to the bridge of her nose.

"Um… sure. Come on in I guess," I reply stepping aside to give her room to come in. She closes the door behind her, and I gesture her over to one of my chairs. Nodding Emily goes to my desk by the window, and she pulls the chair out from it. Turning it towards me, she sits gingerly and breathes in deeply, then holds the letter up to her face.

"Dear Emily, I feel as if I must explain things… I'm sorry about my sudden leaving and if I've been acting strangely. I wish I could come back to Kadic… but for reasons I can't disclose, I just can't right now. There's something you should know… I like Lila, and I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong idea about our friendship. I don't see you as a romantic significant other… and I'm sorry if my leaving hurts you. I'm also sorry if I took too long in sending this letter. Please don't be mad at her. Cameron." She lowers the letter down to her lap, and I have to admit that I'm a bit stunned right now.

"So you see Lila… that's my problem with _you_. You took Cameron from me; he liked you more than he did me…" Emily trails off.

 _Poor girl… what do I tell her to make her feel better… maybe if she… yeah, I'll have to tell her this,_ I think.

"Listen Emily…" I sigh, "I never liked Cameron, okay?"

"Huh?! You didn't?!" She asks hopefully.

"No I didn't… see I was just trying to be nice to him. He helped out my sister Aelita when Sissi was mean to her. She's changed now, but because of that I felt like I owed him something," I lie, trying to resist the urge to grit my teeth.

"And… well… I never really had feelings of the sort for him other than just as friends," I finish.

Emily all but bolts upright from my chair.

"Then… do you think I have a chance with him?!" she exclaims happily.

"Yeah… just tell him I said that I never felt any romantic feelings towards him," I say.

"Okay! I will, and maybe he can use my shoulder to cry on! Thanks a million Lila!" Emily blurts. She gets up from the chair and gives me a hug, the releases me and runs to the door.

Aelita opens the door as Emily gets there; she's come back in her pink pajamas with the letter A on her t shirt. She's holding a green towel and her clothes from today.

"Hi Aelita!" Emily chirps, bouncing happily as she walks out of the room and starts humming her way down the hall. Aelita looks at her then back at me. She walks into the room, and closes the door.

"What was that about?" Aelita asks, raising an eyebrow. She goes to the shared closet and puts the dirty clothes in there.

"I um…" I trail off, feeling a bit heart broken all of a sudden. I go over to her bed and sit on it. She sees I'm upset and comes over, taking a seat next to me.

"Hey what's wrong?"

"I think I just made a big mistake Aelita… for someone else's happiness…" I trail off, as I put my head on her shoulder. She puts her hand on my head, holding me closer as I can't help but cry softly.

 **A few hours later**

 **Before lights out**

I'm working on another combination for MB's laptop. Trying to get my mind off earlier. Typing on it, I enter the new code:

 _04687792_

The laptop does nothing for a second, except…

 _04_

"No way…. Aelita look!" I exclaim, a little bit of happiness pouring back into me. Aelita gets off from her bed, and comes over to me. She gasps.

"Amazing. It looks like you've got two of the numbers!" she exclaims.

"Yeah. I guess each correct number I enter, will remain in the spots."

"At least you're making progress. It's getting late isn't it?" she asks.

"Yeah it is, we should get going to bed, before Jim has something to complain about," I say. Closing MB's laptop, I open my second drawer and put the laptop in there quickly, closing it swiftly before Aelita can see the copy of Jeremy's laptop. I record the number I entered on my notebook with my pen. I open the first drawer and put both items into it. I close it. Going over to the door, I flip the light switch.

Looking at Aelita, I say:

"Good night Aelita."

"Thanks Lila, you too." She smiles lightly, as she lays down in her bed. Going to the ladder, I climb on it. I get into bed, and put my head on the pillow.

 _I still can't believe I sacrificed my happiness for Emily's sake… I hope it's for the best…_ I think.

 **The next day**

 **In Mrs. Meyer's class**

I have my head on my arms, tired from lack of sleep. I didn't even try to go back to sleep… I just couldn't. I let Cameron go… and now he'll probably think I'm just this great big jerk. Having a crush on someone sucks.

"Elizabeth…" Mrs. Meyers says, for Sissi's ears only, causing her to pay attention. "I see that you're improving from usual scores. 60," she says, in which Sissi gasps in delight. She takes her exam.

"Jeremy, I deducted two points because of the ketchup stain on your diagram. 98," Mrs. Meyer says, handing Jeremy the exam.

"Huh?" Jeremy asks, taking it. "When did that get there?"

Mrs. Meyer walks up to Ulrich. "Ulrich, there's some good but not enough to make up what's bad. 58," Mrs. Meyer says, putting the exam on his desk. He sighs in disappointment.

"Herb, 93, excellent," Mrs. Meyer says, as she goes over to Herb to give him his exam. "Not as good as Jeremy or Lila's usual grades, but excellent." Mrs. Meyer goes over to me.

"Lila… well done. 85," Mrs. Meyer compliments as she hands me the paper. "I deducted 15 points off for answering the problems in the way I didn't teach you. I understand you and Jeremy are gifted students at math, but please try to use my equations when filling in the answers."

"Yes ma'am," I nod, and Mrs. Meyer then goes over to Odd.

 _85 is still pretty good in my books,_ I think.

 **Later**

 **At night**

 **Inside Lila and Aelita's room**

Aelita and I are now in the room, after Jim has given us one of his lectures for us girls to not go upstairs to the boy's dorm floor at night, no matter the circumstances.

"Glad to hear you passed your exam. When Mrs. Meyer handed mine to me, I was happy with my grade," Aelita mentions.

"What did you get?" I ask.

"100," Aelita answers, giving a thumbs up.

"Very nice," I smile at her.

 _I definitely get my smarts from you two, there's no question about that,_ I think.

 **Later**

 **That evening**

I wake to screaming from upstairs and I toss my covers to the side. Using the rails, I jump down the bed and land on the floor, then gently shake Aelita awake. She rubs her eyes groggily.

"Lila what's going on-" she starts to say, and then she hears the screaming coming from upstairs.

"Let's go," I say.

"Right!" Aelita exclaims. Moving out of the way, I give her room to get out of bed. Aelita and I get our shoes on, while still in our pajamas, and running out door, we close it behind us.

 **Upstairs**

Reaching the boy's dorm floor, we see Jim… _floating in the air_? He's screaming, with Jeremy, Ulrich, Odd, and Sissi staring at Jim. Their attention turns to us as we approach.

"No don't! It's the ghost of Leon Corbet!" Sissi half-yells. "If it sees you-" she starts to explain, and as she does, the ghost drops Jim.

"Jim!" Ulrich, Sissi, Odd, and Jeremy, rush to Jim lying on the floor. They're all still in their day clothes for some reason. Maybe they were staying up late tonight for some reason?

The ghost seems to have disappeared, but there's no way of even tracking it. But then, I feel something grabbing my leg. I look down.

 _This… will not be fun,_ I think, and gulp. The ghost sure enough, starts dragging me on the floor.

"Lila!" Aelita, Ulrich, Sissi, Odd, and Jeremy exclaim. Aelita is the first one to grab my hand and try to pull me free, as I continue to be dragged by the ghost. Odd, Ulrich, Sissi, and Jeremy run over to Aelita. Sissi pulls on Aelita's waist as she tries to get the ghost to release me. Jeremy is next, followed by Odd, then Ulrich. They grunt as the ghost continues to drag me, not letting my friend's hold get the better of it. We pass by Jim; he's still unconscious.

"Hurry! If I go through that door, I'm not sure if-" I begin, and we get closer to the door.

Aelita, Sissi, Ulrich, Odd, and Jeremy give one last pull and I'm finally released, falling to the ground as my friends fall on each other. They pant out of breath. Catching their breath, Aelita and Sissi help each other up, then run over to me and do the same. I brush myself off.

"Thanks," I say, panting. "So um Sissi, what exactly did you mean by the _ghost_ of Leon Corbet? For that matter, who exactly is –" I catch myself, "was Leon Corbet?"

Sissi rubs her neck sheepishly.

"Well… I kind of talked Odd and Ulrich into having a seance with Herb and Nicholas. In Milly and Tamiya's newspaper, they mentioned that supposedly Leon Corbet's spirit still haunts Kadic. Today marks the anniversary of his supposed death, and the day Kadic was built," she explains.

"Oh… well I'm sure it wasn't a _real_ ghost. Right Jeremy?" I ask him.

"Of course. Ghosts aren't real. It was probably one of Xana's spectre's," Jeremy surmises.

"Then why couldn't we see it?" Aelita asks.

"Xana probably did something to make it invisible. I've been having trouble with the super scan all night; it's been so buggy, I haven't had time to get into my pajamas," Jeremy says sleepily. He fixes his glasses to the bridge of his nose, then yawns.

"Anyways, what are we going to do about Jim?" he asks, pointing over to the unconscious man.

"Well… you, Ulrich, and Odd will have to bring him to his room. And I have a suggestion, since your super scan program is buggy Jeremy, I'm going to go and use mine to locate the tower. Jim will probably assume what happened was a dream, this way we won't need to launch a return trip. Plus Aelita and I need to get into our regular clothes too," I explain.

"Okay, seems like a fair plan," Jeremy agrees.

"Right, I got Jim's legs," Odd says, going over to Jim and his legs.

"I'll grab his arms," Ulrich says, going over to Jim.

"What should I do?" Sissi asks.

"You could be our look out. Both for the spectre and for any of our dorm-mates. Einstein can hold the door for us," Ulrich replies.

"Right," Sissi nods.

"Okay, be back in ten," I say. They nod. Aelita and I start walking back downstairs.

Getting to our floor, we head to the room and open the door. Aelita goes inside the room. I walk in the room, and close the door behind me.

 **Inside Lila and Aelita's room**

Walking over to my desk, I reach it as Aelita goes to our opened shared closet. She looks for her day clothes. I open the drawer and grab the copy of my father's laptop. I put it on the desk.

Looking at Aelita, I say:

"Say um Aelita," I say hesitantly. "Since you know Jeremy is my father and everything, do you want to see his laptop? I've been hesitant on showing it to you… but I mean if you wanted to..." I trail off. Grabbing her clothes, Aelita looks at me, then smiles.

"Lila, I know you trust me. I trust you too. I imagine there's a lot of information on that laptop, important information. But I think it's safer if we let the timeline happen the way it's meant to happen. Considering what my future self-did to give all of us a second chance. I don't want to be tempted."

"Okay," I nod. Opening the laptop, I let it load before it shows the home screen. I glance at Aelita.

"To be completely honest Aelita, I've been through this laptop a few times. Yeah there's a few videos of my father on here but honestly… they're not very helpful. If there are any video diaries that are helpful… they're probably buried deep in this laptop somewhere. I wouldn't even know where to begin looking," I explain. Aelita nods.

"Right, I understand. I'm going to go to the bathroom to change. I'll shout if I need help," she says.

"Yeah. Don't forget to take your cell phone with you," I say. Nodding, she goes to her desk by the wall, and grabs her cell phone. Grabbing it, she then goes to the door. Opening the door, she leaves. Looking at the copy of my father's laptop, I start typing on the keyboard and bring up the super scan program.

Letting it run, it goes through a list of tower's and I wait for it to confirm the tower's location. Finally it pinpoints the tower's location; looking at the screen I see that the tower's located in the ice sector.

Grabbing a pen, I hastily write down the tower's coordinates on a sticky note. I close the copy of my father's laptop and put it in the second drawer where MB's laptop is.

Closing that drawer, I then close my first drawer. Putting the sticky note on my desk, I go over to mine and Aelita's opened shared closet.

Grabbing my pink magenta leather jacket, my black t shirt, some pants, my high nylon boxer briefs, and my shoes, I walk to the door. Opening the door, I close the door behind me, I see Aelita heading back to our room, with her pajamas in her hands. She's changed into her clothes rather quickly.

"I'll be back in five and then we can go. Okay?" I ask her.

She nods.

"Sure, I'll be in our room," Aelita says.

 **Afterwards**

 **Boy's dorm floor**

Going to the boy's dorm floor, Aelita and I see Sissi still waiting for us. We walk to her.

"Jeremy's is in his room. He's trying to debug his super scan program," she informs.

"Okay, and where are Odd and Ulrich?" I ask.

"They're in their room. I think Odd is feeding Kiwi before we head off to the lab," she explains.

"Ah okay," I say. Reaching her, the three of us knock on Jeremy's door.

"Come in," he says and in we go. Closing the door behind us, Jeremy is still typing on his keyboard. His light is on, in his room.

"Any luck Jeremy?" I ask. In his chair, he turns to us.

"None," Jeremy sighs. "I'm afraid we're going to need to go to check the supercomputer out in the factory to see if there's a problem with the super scan there too. Did you check your super scan program Lila?" he asks.

"Yeah, activated tower. Ice Sector," I reply, taking out the sticky note. Walking over to him, I hand him the sticky note and he takes it. He looks it over, and nods.

"I've got to see your program one of these days," he says.

"Sorry Jeremy, you know I can't let you do that," I say.

"I know…." Jeremy trails off, and puts the sticky note in his pocket. He fixes his glasses to the bridge of his nose.

"Let's head to the factory," he says.

"Okay," I say.

"I'll call Yumi on our way there, so she can meet us," Sissi says.

 **Inside the lab**

Jeremy, Ulrich, Odd, Sissi, Yumi, Aelita, and I are all in the lab. We're watching Jeremy type on the keyboard as his super scan is running. The super scan locks onto a tower, but can't seem to pinpoint it's exact location at all, like it's supposed to.

"So, what do we do now?" Ulrich asks, looking at the screen.

"Sissi, Aelita, Yumi, and Lila get to Sector Five as quickly as you can. Odd and Ulrich, head to the ice sector and check out the activated tower. See if it's guarded, and deal with any monsters so when Aelita, Sissi, Yumi, and Lila get back – Aelita can take care of the tower quickly," he answers.

"Negative, I'm staying with you. If the spectre comes back, it'll attack you. You need some protection," Ulrich says.

"Well… okay," Jeremy agrees.

 **Inside the scanner room**

Yumi, and Odd are standing in front of the scanners. Odd looks back at us.

"Best of luck," he smiles.

"Thanks, you too," I say.

"See you in a few," Yumi says. Stepping inside of it, the doors close. Odd steps into his scanner and that scanners' doors close.

Sissi, Aelita, and I look at the scanners.

" _Transfer: Odd, Transfer: Yumi."_ " _Scanner: Odd, Scanner: Yumi."_ There's a brief pause,

" _Virtualization!"_

The scanners hum, and then reopen. Sissi, Aelita, and I take our scanners. The scanners doors close.

 **Lyoko's Desert Sector**

Sissi, Aelita, and I land in the desert sector. Yumi is there waiting for us.

" _Get to the edge of the sector, you're close by. I've sent Odd ahead to the ice sector to look for the tower with the coordinates you gave us Lila,"_ Jeremy says.

"Got it," I say..

"Let's go!" Yumi exclaims.

"Right!" I nod. The four of us start running towards the edge of the sector.

 **Afterwards**

Reaching the edge of the sector, Aelita's asks:

"How's Odd doing Jeremy?"

" _He's on his way to the activated tower. He'll let me know_ _he's_ _there,"_ Jeremy replies.

"Right, well hopefully we can get this super scan program deactivated," I say.

" _I'm entering the code: Scipio,"_ Jeremy says.

Looking up, we see The Transport Orb floats down seemingly from out of nowhere. Reaching us, it opens and scoops us, as it makes its way to sector five.

 **Sector Five**

 **Arena room**

Reaching the arena room, The Transport Orb drops Sissi, Aelita, Yumi, and I off. The room starts spinning. The spinning starts getting slower and slower, the walls and then the door aligns itself.

" _Remember, you've only got three minutes to find the key. If your vision kicks in Lila, you'll find it sooner than that,_ " Jeremy says.

"Right!" I exclaim. The door opens, and we start running.

 _I just hope it does kick in… otherwise things are going to get tougher from here,_ I think.

Running through the doorway, we run inside and the walls start opening from the sides one by one.

 **Afterwards**

We enter the new room, it's large and empty. Sissi, Yumi, and I look up at the ceiling, it looks like it's in the form of blocks.

"I see the key!" Aelita exclaims, pointing to it rather quickly. The three of us look at where Aelita pointed. It's just across from us.

 _This is just too easy,_ I think. Before I can object, Aelita and Sissi start running to reach the key mechanism. I follow them, figuring if I was going to have a vision I would have by now. We continue running towards the key mechanism when we stop.

"There's something off about this," Yumi exasperates. "It's too easy."

"Yeah you're right it is," Sissi agrees. "Any visions Lila?" she asks.

"None," I say. The floor starts changing almost like moving blocks.

"What's going on?" Sissi asks.

"One of Xana's traps," Aelita replies.

Eyeing the room, and the amount of space between us and the key mechanism, I start walking towards the key mechanism.

"Look out!" Aelita exclaims, and I lose my footing. Aelita catches me with the help of Yumi and Sissi, before I fall down as we the block beneath us ascends.

"Thanks," I say, as they pull me back up and my feet are on back on the block.

"I need to be more careful," I say. "Let's go!"

"Right!" Sissi exclaims. Sissi, Yumi, and myself starts leaping onto other moving blocks. We land on another one and look back at Aelita. Aelita makes a run for it and leaps into the air, both of her hands are out. She screams as she's barely able to grab the block Sissi, Yumi, and I are on.

"Someone!" Aelita exclaims. Taking her hands, Yumi and I help pull her up. Sissi helps us. Together, we continue pulling Aelita up until she's on the block with us and her feet touches the floor. The four of us catch our breath.

Looking around, my eyes widen as the surrounding floor has disappeared entirely. Sissi, Aelita, Yumi, and I are now only standing on one block and with no way to get to the key mechanism.

"Jeremy - how much time - do we have left?" Aelita asks, in between breaths. Sissi, Yumi, and I recover, we look up. Jeremy doesn't respond.

"Jeremy?" I ask.

Aelita recovers and she looks up too. "Jeremy? Jeremy?"

He still doesn't respond.

"This isn't good. What now?" Yumi asks.

"I have an idea," I reply. "Sissi, get ready to spin me with your club dance ability."

"Right. I think I know what you're planning," she says.

"We need to hurry, before the Xana Bots get here," Aelita says. Yumi takes her Tessen Fans out. She opens them, just in case the Xana Bots show up.

"Right," I nod. Using my powers, I gather them to the soles of my feet. My lightning pendant glows, letting me know my I'm good to go.

"Now Sissi!" I exclaim.

"Right! Lady Luck!" Sissii exclaims. The slots on Sissi's bracer starts spinning. They soon come to a halt. Two slots have symbols on them. The third slot has no symbol. The fourth slot remains empty as usual.

"Club Dance!" Sissi exclaims.

A green club-shaped aura appears around Sissi for a moment before compressing into a glow over her body. Sissi begins twirling like a ballerina as she gains incredible speed, offering her hand I take it. The room is spinning faster than my eyes can keep up with, but I focus them on the key mechanism, while trying to keep my powers maintained. Sissi throws me across and I fly right at it. Getting my hand ready, I reach the key and push my hand toward the key mechanism.

Suddenly out of nowhere, three Xana Bots zoom into the room.

"Lila!" Sissi, Yumi, and Aelita exclaim. It's too late, as the Xana Bots fire at me, using their lasers. I devirtualize.

 **Inside the scanner room**

Opening my eyes, I see I'm on the floor of the scanner. The scanner doors open, and I make a fist.

 _Ugh! Those little sneaks!_ I think.

Getting up from the scanner, I step out and make my way towards the freight elevator.

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside the lab**

The freight elevator's doors open and I walk inside the lab. Looking at the red button, I press it to go down and walk out before the doors close. Looking around, I see the guys aren't here.

 _The spectre must be chasing after them…_ I think.

" _Sissi, Yumi! no! Lila, if you can hear this Sissi , Yumi, and I didn't get to the key mechanism in time. They didn't make it back to the arena room with me, I'm all alone!"_ Aelita exclaims. I hear the scanners doors open in the scanner room, and I rush over to the chair. Sitting in it, I grab the headset, and put it on me. I adjust the mic part.

"Aelita just hang on. Just tell me how I can use the program that summons the transport orb," I tell her.

" _Okay. Follow my directions,"_ Aelita says.

Aelita tells me how to find the program. Finding I bring up the program, and the window opens.

" _Lila, hurry! It's here!"_ Aelita exclaims. Looking at the keyboard, I type quickly and enter:

 _SCIPIO_

The passcode is accepted and the window blinks. Looking over at Odd profile, I ask him:

"Odd, how are you doing? Did you find the activated tower?"

" _Yes! But I can use some help! The tower's guarded by Tarantulas and four Krabs. Talk about a welcoming committee,"_ Odd says.

"Right, I'll go back in," I say.

" _Lila, The Transport Orb is here and just in time! I'll meet you and the others in the Ice Sector,_ " Aelita says.

"Don't worry Aelita, I'll meet you actually. As soon as you land, I'll set up an auto virtualization and materialize Sissi's Overbike, and my broomstick, at your drop off point."

" _Okay!"_ Aelita exclaims. In one of the windows, I see the icon of the transport orb scooping her up as it brings her to the desert sector. The freight elevator's doors open, Yumi and Sissi walk in.

"Those walls in Sector Five are awful," Sissi complains. "Aelita was able to use her creativity ability to build a path for us to use to get back, with Yumi using her telekinesis ability to help get us out of there. We just weren't fast enough. Those walls are rough on you, devirtualization from Sector Five isn't easy." She walks to me.

"Trust me we know," Yumi says, she walks to me too.

"We'll have to debug the super scan program another day. Do either of you two want to go back in?" I ask.

"No thanks, I'll monitor things for you guys. Where are Einstein and Ulrich?" Sissi asks.

"The spectre is after them I assume," I explain.

"And I'll stay here with Sissi, just in case the guys need our help when they get back," Yumi adds.

"Right," I say. Typing on the keyboard, I bring up the program in a window for materializing our vehicles. Sissi's Overbike and my broomstick materialize. I take off the headset.

"Don't scratch my ride okay?" Sissi asks.

"Haha, I won't…" I reply. Bringing up the auto virtualization program, I type in the code for the auto virtualization, and set it to virtualize me next to Aelita in the ice sector. A timer pops up, and it starts counting down.

"I'm off!" I exclaim, and I get out of the chair.

"Good luck," Yumi says. I smile and I run over to the ladder shoot. Reaching it, I start climbing down into the scanner room.

 **Lyoko's Ice Sector**

Landing in the Ice Sector, I land next to Aelita. Sissi's Overbike is already materialized next to my broomstick.

"Lila, I'm glad you're a quick study! If it weren't for you the Scyphozoa would have tried to…" Aelita trails off.

"Don't worry, I wasn't going to let that giant jellyfish monster do anything to you. Aelita, you can use my broomstick. I have an idea to take out all four of those Krabs," I say as I go to Sissi's Overbike. I get on it, and Aelita gets on my broomstick.

"How?" she asks.

"You'll see," I reply, and rev up Sissi's Overbike. Aelita kicks the broomstick into the air, and we take off.

 **At the activated tower**

Reaching Odd, he's hiding behind a large glacier that still hasn't been cracked yet from the volley of lasers. Aelita gets off the broomstick and runs over to him.

"Good you're here!" Odd exclaims turning to us. "Now we can take care of those Krabs? Any ideas?" he asks.

"Yeah. Once I've taken care of them, take care of the Tarantulas," I reply. Taking my hunter's knife out of its sleeve, I charge it with yellow electricity. My pendant glows and the hunter's knife is engulfed with electricity. Revving up the Overbike, I drive out from the glacier, as this gets the monsters attention. They turn to me. I rev up the Overbike faster and take off towards them.

Heading towards them, I turn left as they try to follow me. I turn right, and the Krabs are following me, one by one, in a line. They start charging their lasers. Revving up the Overbike, I make a turn and drive straight at them. The Overbike still heading toward them, I stand up on the seat.

Balancing myself on it I keep focus, letting my electricity flow into the soles of my feet. Jumping into the air, it gives me a boost as the Krabs fire too late at the Overbike, devirtualizing it. I land on top of one of the Krab's head.

Using my electrically charged hunter's knife, I stab it in the head, pouring electricity through it. It starts wobbling, so using my electricity again in the soles of my feet, I jump off it and onto the next one. The first keels over, and explodes.

Landing, I don't bother channeling electricity into the hunter knife this time, by maintaining its focus. I just stab the Krab's head with my hunter knife. It begins to wobble. I repeat the process with the two remaining, and they explode.

Turning to the Tarantulas, they raise their legs at me and start charging their lasers. With no time to react, the Tarantulas fire a volley wave of lasers at me. Losing my ground, I lose my weapon and my electricity is dispersed. I fly off the ice and turn into a cloud of pixels.

 **Back inside the scanner**

Opening my eyes, I'm once again on the floor of the scanner as the scanner's doors open. I groan.

 _Two trips in one day is rough. We should probably limit ourselves some day. Maybe even 12 hours, just to give our bodies some rest,_ I think.

"Jeremy you've got to hang on!" Ulrich calls out from upstairs. Getting up from the scanner, I rush over to the ladder to see what's going on.

 **Inside the lab**

Reaching the lab, I look to see Sissi, Yumi, and Ulrich is by Jeremy who is gasping for breath. His glasses are on the floor.

"Dad!" I blurt out, running up to him. Reaching him, I go next to the others as Jeremy continues to have trouble breathing.

"What – what did you call him?" Ulrich asks shocked.

"Did we you hear you right?" Yumi asks.

 _Please tell me I didn't… oh no…_ I think.

"Did you just call him dad? Why would you do that?" Sissi inquires.

"It's – I'll tell you later! What's wrong with him?" I ask in a serious tone, ignoring the question.

" _Jeremy, I've just entered the tower! Hang on!"_ Aelita informs from the computer.

"The spectre… when it was chasing us, and we got back to the lab, it went for Jeremy. Come on Jeremy, hang in there!" Ulrich exclaims. Sissi, Yumi, Ulrich, and I continue to watch Jeremy helplessly.

" _Tower deactivated,"_ Aelita informs. Jeremy begins coughing, as a spectre exits his body from his mouth. The spectre fully exits Jeremy and vanishes up into the ceiling. Sissi, Ulrich, and I help Jeremy up. Yumi picks up his glasses and she hands them to him. Jeremy takes them and using his sweater he rubs them before putting the glasses back on. He pushes them to the bridge of his nose and looks at me.

"Did I hear you right when I was choking… did you call me Dad?" Jeremy asks.

"I… I did… I guess I have some explaining to do huh?" I ask. Sissi, Yumi, Jeremy, and Ulrich nod.

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside the lab**

"So um guys," I speak up. "I guess you're probably wondering why I called Jeremy, dad."

"We all are," Jeremy says. He looks at me with a serious look.

"Am I really your father in the future, Lila?"

I sigh. I make eye contact with all of them.

"You are… please don't be mad at me okay? I've been lying to all of you. My name isn't Lila Smith…. It's Lila Belpois," I reveal.

"Huh?" Ulrich and Odd asks. Yumi and Sissi look surprised too, Aelita not so much since she already knows. Jeremy fixes his glasses to the bridge of his nose again.

"I see…so why lie to us then?" Jeremy asks.

"I had to. For the sake of the timeline I had to…" I trail off. "At least that was the initial thought back then." Sissi shakes her head.

"Wait, wait, wait! Can someone please tell me what the heck we're talking about here?" Sissi asks.

"Right um… okay this may be hard to believe Sissi, and I trust you since you've been with us for a little while now. But… let me explain things from the beginning. I've come from the future, from the year 2043 to be precise," I tell her.

"What?! A time traveler?!" Sissi exclaims.

"The necklace she wears is a time machine created by Jeremy in the future," Aelita explains.

"And trust us, we've seen it. It's a bit beaten up, but it works," Odd mentions.

"Okay, and why did you travel into the past?" Sissi asks.

"I'm not sure… my father – Jeremy I mean, never explained why I was sent here. Mary, my parental guardian, who is more like a mother to me, she helped guided me a lot during the time I first arrived here. But… on the same day we materialized Aelita…" I swallow a bit. "I… I lost her. Xana took her from me using the Scyphozoa."

"I'm so sorry Lila…" Sissi trails.

"And she's been through a lot. With the war she told us between Xana and the human race. It seems we've lost against Xana in the future…" Ulrich adds.

"We lost? Oh man…" Sissi trails.

"But there's hope Sissi. With Lila here, if it's her mission to prevent that outcome from her future, there's still a chance we can win. You see Sissi, this time travel business… it's dangerous," Yumi replies.

"Dangerous how?" Sissi asks. Odd turns to her.

"Um… you know about Cameron leaving suddenly right?" Odd turns asks her. She nods. He then turns to me and I sigh internally.

"He left because… Aelita from a different future of this timeline came to the past. She… she tried to kill him," I tell her.

"Huh? Why would she want to do that?" Sissi asks.

"Future me came from the future… to stop Cameron from killing Lila. Through my future self's warning, she told Cameron about a way to free him…" Aelita trails off.

"Free him… from Xana?" Sissi asks.

"Yes… there were these chips. The one he was freed from controlled him… and warped his mind by erasing his memories every so often… that he'd focused on one goal… killing me," I explain. Sissi's eyes widen.

"And – and what happened to the future version of Aelita?" Sissi asks.

"My future self-died… because Cameron killed her. It was supposed to be Lila the first time around… but I'm grateful to my future self that it wasn't…" Aelita trails off.

"This all sounds unbelievable! And… you really trust me to keep this information a secret? And does Cameron even know he killed future Aelita?" Sissi asks.

"No he doesn't know…" I answer. " At least that's my hope. He told me he had nightmares about killing her, but I told him those were just nightmares. And yes… we trust you. Fully Sissi," I smile slightly.

Sissi smiles slightly too.

"Thanks I'm glad, I'll keep all of this a secret too."

"Lila…" Jeremy says speaking up. "If I'm your father, then why can't I see the super scan program you have?" Jeremy asks.

"Because Jeremy… it's the same laptop, just-" I start to say but he interrupts.

"Upgraded software, right?"

I nod.

"And Lila… if you knew that Einstein's your father… can't you tell us who your mother is?" Odd asks.

I sigh.

"No… no I can't," I say. "Because…. I really don't know," I lie.

"You don't know who your own mother was?" Yumi asks a bit surprised. I nod.

"All she knows is that she died of an illness. Right Lila?" Aelita asks. I nod. They turn to her.

"You knew Aelita?" Odd asks.

"Lila told me in confidence. It was something that fake Mary said a while back in Sector Five. Xana tried to use that information to hurt the group somehow," Aelita explains. "But that didn't work obviously." They turn back to me.

"Okay… but the war is real _right?_ You told us the truth about that?" Ulrich asks.

"I did. And I _honestly_ don't know what happened to any of you," I reply still lying, mostly. Ulrich nods.

"Probably for the best," he says.

"And what about Cameron from your future world?" Odd asks.

"He wasn't a Lyoko Warrior. To be honest, he feels more like an anomaly to me," I reply.

"What does that mean?" Sissi asks.

"Basically Cameron is kind of a like bad error in a computer program. Shouldn't have existed in this timeline," Jeremy says, explaining it the easiest way possible.

"Okay I think I get it. Then how did we know each other?" Sissi asks.

"I really can't say sorry," I reply.

"It's okay, just being curious," Sissi says.

"So… what can we do to help you Lila? What do you need our help with the most?" Jeremy asks. I look at him, giving him a serious look.

"Mary. I want to figure out how to free her from the Scyphozoa's mind. She's everything to me, and she's been in there far too long. Who knows what Xana has done to her? But, I want to save her from his clutches..." I say. The others nod understanding the situation.

"Thanks everyone. I'm sorry for not telling you truth sooner Jeremy… but I'm glad all of you are able to handle it," I say.

"We should be able to Lila. After all, we are Lyoko Warriors, right? We keep secrets and fight the tough battles?" Yumi asks.

"Yeah!" Odd and Ulrich exclaim, fist bumping. Jeremy, Sissi, and Aelita smile. I smile too.

 _I'm glad I have all of you to rely on. Mary… we're going to find a way to free you. And soon. I know it,_ I think.

* * *

Author's Note: Is Lila right? Will they find a way to free Mary soon? Stay tuned!

* * *

As always,

Don't forget to review!

LyokoWarrior1994


	47. Mary Smith

**Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is copyrighted by Moonscoop.**

* * *

This chapter was written by me, it was edited by **AwesomeFanFictionAuthor.**

I only own Lila. Mary is owned by **AeroJester203.**

* * *

Author's Note: Hi everyone, a small note about Sissi's Lady Luck power/ability. Lady Luck is an ability that is based entirely on luck itself. Her first slot contains her spade ability with the spade symbol. Her second slot contains her cliub dance ability with the club symbol. The third slot while mentioned having a symbol, has not in fact been shown. This is due to my forgetfulness of it. It will debut late season 3. Sissi's fourth and final slot which is always empty, will not be revealed until we are near the season 3 finale. If a slot has no symbol on it, it means the power cannot be used. If Sissi is unlucky with her Lady Luck power, she will either unfortunately have just one symbol on one slot used, or none at all (which has not happened yet.) Then there is the joker symbol. The joker symbol is bad luck and it can decrease Sissi's abilities like her spades as we've previously seen, causing her to rely more on her baton instead. I hope this clears up any questions about the Lady Luck power/ability.

Also do not skip to the end of the chapter unless you read it the whole way through.

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Enjoy!

* * *

 **April 12** **th**

 **Inside the lab**

 **POV Lila's**

Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, Sissi, and I are all in the lab. Tomorrow is Jeremy's birthday.

"Okay, so how are preparations going for Jeremy's surprise?" I ask.

"It's going well! I've got the drawing completed, and the frame should be done tonight," Odd replies.

"That's good," Sissi says.

"Aelita's talking to him in his room, which gives us time to plan everything out," Yumi says.

"So what should we all get Einstein?" Ulrich asks, looking at me. I shrug.

"A version of him may have been my father but he didn't like talking about his past _too_ much."

"Well… we've got the drawing, that should do since it's got all of us," Odd says.

"Yeah, I think it will," I smile.

 **Later that night**

 **Inside Lila and Aelita's room**

The buzzing of Aelita's phone wakes the both of us up, she immediately reaches for it and she answers it.

"Jeremy…?" Aelita asks, a bit groggily. Her eyes widen, as she gets up from her pillow. "How many?!" she exclaims. "Okay… Lila and I are on our way," she says, and clicks the end button. She puts the phone on the desk and looks up at me, stunned.

"What's wrong?" I ask her, pulling my blanket to the side and getting out of it.

"Xana's activated five towers," Aelita replies. My eyes widen.

"What?!"

She nods. I quickly clamber down the ladder. I reach our floor and going to our shared opened close, I start pulling out clothing.

"Let's change and get over to the factory quickly," I say, looking at Aelita.

"Right," she nods and tosses her blanket to the side.

 **Inside the factory**

Jeremy, Odd, Ulrich, Sissi, Aelita, and I are standing by the freight elevator. We're waiting for Yumi. Jeremy presses the red button, and the freight elevator's hangar door opens.

"I've got a bad feeling about this one," Jeremy says.

"Oh relax, Einstein. We'll take care of your five towers in no time," Odd says. Looking up, we see Yumi sliding down the metal rope. She lands on the floor.

"I've got here as quickly as I could."

"That's okay, Yumi, all that matters is you're here now," We both smile and go inside the freight elevator. I press the red button, the freight elevator's hangar door closes, and brings us down to the lab.

 **Inside the lab**

The freight elevator's doors opens, and we see a familiar person typing on the keyboard, my eyes widen.

 _It can't be… but it is…_ I think.

"Ma-mary?!" I exclaim, running inside. The others follow me. She turns to me, still in her business suit. She looks pale. Almost like her body took some sort of physical toll when she was trapped in the Scyphozoa's mind.

"How… how are you here?!" I ask.

"Xana… he made a mistake. When the moment was right, I took my chance and escaped the Scyphozoa's mind. The torture Xana put me through… it was too much. It took a toll on my physical body… as you can see. I'm happy to see you, Lila," she replies. She notices my red hair but doesn't comment.

"Not that we aren't all happy to see you Mary… but, uh, what are you doing here?" Jeremy asks.

"Deactivating the towers of course."

"Wait… what?" I ask. She continues typing on the keyboard, and the five windows showing the activated towers, are now deactivated.

"That Xana, opens the doors, but leaves the windows wide open," she chuckles lightly.

"But how could you possibly know how to do that, Mary?" I ask her.

"Xana's taken knowledge from me. Knowledge I have of our future. So now, I'm using it against him," she explains.

"Okay, so now what?" Ulrich asks.

"We need to destroy Xana," Mary says suddenly.

"Huh?" Yumi and Sissi ask.

"We'd love to. But if we do, Aelita switches off too," Jeremy explains.

"I'm well aware. We'll find the antivirus, you'll see," Mary says, trying to reassure us. She looks at me.

"On another note… what exactly happened to your hair Lila? Why is it red?" Mary asks.

"Sissi and I exchanged bodies for a day because of a bug in the scanners. She dyed my hair," I explain.

"I said I was sorry!" Sissi exclaims, crossing her arms. All of us laugh.

"Thankfully she didn't ruin dad's jacket," I say. Mary raises her eyebrow.

"They know?" she asks. I nod.

"Yeah. They don't know _who_ my mom, but that's because I _don't_ know. We have a lot of catching up to do," I say. Mary nods, catching my drift.

 **The next day**

Ulrich, Sissi, Aelita, Yumi, Odd, Kiwi and I are outside Jeremy's door. Odd has his drawing wrapped up in red gift wrap.

 _I'm glad I had the chance to tell Mary a few of things that happened while she was gone. Like how Sissi became a Lyoko Warrior… but I haven't told her why Cameron left the group. I'm not sure if I have it in me to tell her…_ I think. We can hear Jeremy's phone ringing from the inside of his room. We open the door, and all of us, including Kiwi, walk in.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY EINSTEIN!" All of us shout, I close the door behind us. He turns to us in his chair. All of us laugh, happy about the occasion.

I walk up to Jeremy first and give him a hug. Letting go of him, Ulrich and Odd walk over to him. They nudge at Jeremy's shoulder, Sissi goes up to him and pats him on his shoulder. Aelita walks up to him and kisses him near the side of his glasses, surprising the bunch of us. It lasts a few seconds, and then she pulls back. She gives him his glasses and he puts them back on, fixing them to the bridge of his nose.

"Um, yeah," Jeremy says, to his dad on the phone. Yumi goes over to him and puts her hand on his hand. "Sure. Okay dad listen, I have to go." She pulls her hand back. "My friends just came in. Talk to you soon," he says, pressing the end button on his phone. He puts the phone on his desk, then looks at us.

"Here," Odd says, as he reveals the wrapped present. Jeremy smiles.

"Go on Einstein, open it," Sissi urges.

"Thanks," he says, and unwraps the present. He puts the paper aside on his desk, and looks at the framed drawing.

"Wow! It's great!" Jeremy exclaims. Odd smiles at him.

"Yeah, and I drew it for memory," Odd mentions.

"So you could imagine the effort it took," Ulrich jokes. He, Aelita, Yumi, and I laugh slightly at that.

"Thanks everyone," Jeremy says. "Hey, how about going over to the factory now? I can't wait to see Mary again."

"Me too. Sounds like a good idea," I say.

 **Inside the lab**

Mary looks at us, as if there's something troubling her.

"What's wrong Mary?" I ask her.

"Lila… I was wrong to ever let you step foot into a scanner," she says.

"What? Why?" I ask.

"Children… are you aware that using the scanners for as long as you have, can lead to… serious health side effects?" Mary asks hesitantly.

"Uh… health side effects? No one told me this!" Sissi exclaims.

"We didn't know," Jeremy tells her. He turns to Mary. "What sort of health side effects? And why would this happen?" he asks.

"The virtualization process is a very dangerous procedure over time. Left unchecked, this procedure can cause... cell degeneration," Mary reveals.

"That's impossible! Dad never said-" I start to go on a rant, but Mary looks at me with a serious look.

"Your father lied to you Lila. While I was proud of you that you became a Lyoko Warrior… and that I was able to help in secret with fighting alongside with the others, I should have never let my pride get in the way of your safety," she explains.

"How can we know for sure?" Odd asks.

"We'll use the scanners to check on things," Mary replies.

"Okay…" I trail off as the others climb down the ladder. "Mary… are you absolutely sure?" I ask her.

"I am," Mary replies.

 _"Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi are in the scanners!"_ Sissi informs, her voice loud and clear coming from the speakers. Nodding, Mary starts scanning them. Odd's profile picture pops up first. A plus sign is shown showing there's no issue.

"Odd seems okay," Mary says and moves onto Ulrich. Another plus sign.

"Ulrich is fine too," she informs. Moving onto Yumi, an area shown where her head is blaring with an red exclamation point.

"But Yumi…" Mary trails off as Aelita gasps.

"No! It can't be!" Jeremy exclaims, covering his mouth.

 _I can't believe this…_ I think. Ending the process, Mary says:

"Sissi, we need to test you next."

It's surprising she isn't using Jeremy's headset to talk with, I guess it's more of a personal choice for Jeremy's use.

" _Right!"_ Sissi says. She starts typing the process and scans Sissi. The same area that effected Yumi, is effecting Sissi. The blaring of the red exclamation point on the computer's main screen makes my eyes widen.

"Oh no…" I trail off. Uncovering his mouth, Jeremy looks at me completely horrified by all of this.

 **Afterwards**

 **In the courtyard**

Yumi and Sissi look a bit upset. But it makes sense.

"I can't believe it… what a nightmare," Yumi says, putting her hand on her head. Sissi is sitting on the bench, she has her head down. Yumi is sitting on the bench next to her, her hand on still on her head.

"Nice one Einstein. Doctor Shrank transplants animal limbs onto human beings. But compared to you, he's small time," Odd chastises.

"I – I couldn't have known. I'm sorry," Jeremy says.

"You're sorry? Well that's not going to help cure Yumi and Sissi," Ulrich says.

Jeremy walks up to them.

"Yumi – Sissi I…" Jeremy trails off. Removing her hand from her head, Yumi and Sissi get up from the bench.

"Leave us alone Jeremy. We need to be left alone," Yumi says coldly. Sissi looks at me.

"So much for being a time traveler. Huh?" Sissi asks. I look down at my feet.

"Are you coming, Ulrich?" Yumi asks him. He nods as he and Yumi walk away from Jeremy, Aelita, and I. Sissi looks at Odd.

"Come on, let's go," she says. Odd nods. The two walk away from us as well. Aelita, Jeremy, and I look at each other with concern.

 **Later at dinner**

 **Inside the cafeteria**

All of us are at our usual table, surprisingly. I asked Rosa not to give me too much spaghetti and meatballs, since I'm not in the mood to eat that much tonight. Sissi isn't here though, she's in her room and Yumi is back at her house.

"I'm sure there's a way to cure them," Jeremy says. He cautiously eats a meatball with his fork.

"We don't even know exactly what's wrong with them," Odd says.

"I'll work it out, I promise I will," Jeremy tells him.

"I think you've done enough damage as it is," Ulrich says.

"What do you mean by that? That everything has been my fault right from the start?" Jeremy asks.

"You're the brains of this outfit. Einstein," Ulrich replies. Taking his tray, Jeremy gets up from his chair. He walks away. Taking her tray, Aelita gets up from the chair.

"You know Ulrich, if it weren't for the scanners I wouldn't be here," Aelita reminds him. I look at Odd.

"I'm not really hungry, you can take my tray if you want," I say and get up with her. We walk away.

 **Later at night**

 **Inside Lila and Aelita's room**

I stare at the ceiling, sighing internally. I look at the time machine necklace underneath my shirt.

 _Dad… you would have told me something was wrong with the scanners. I know you would have told me,_ I think.

 **The next day**

 **Inside the lab**

The freight elevator's doors open. Ulrich, Odd, Jeremy, Aelita, Yumi, Sissi, and I walk in the lab. Mary had told Yumi and Sissi that all of us should meet her here. She finishes typing on the keyboard, and turns to us in the chair.

"I now know how to program Aelita's antivirus, which will free Aelita from Xana," Mary announces. "As for your link, Lila, before I escaped the Scyphozoa's mind I removed the three-way link between us and Xana. We're no longer tied to him. All we need is gather the data from Sector Five," she continues to explain.

She turns back to the keyboard and starts typing again. Aelita, Odd, Yumi, and Sissi walk up to Mary. They're by her side of the chair.

"That's great, we'll go and get the data then," Aelita says.

"I thought the scanners were too dangerous to use?" Jeremy asks. He and I walk up to her.

"If we want to get to Sector Five, there's no other way," Mary replies, not looking at us.

"It'll be our final mission then!" Odd exclaims.

"Okay, then what am I supposed to do?" Jeremy asks. Mary stops typing.

"If I were you, I'd stay out of the way," she replies, not looking at him. Jeremy points at Mary.

"It's not fair! Everyone is blaming me for everything! And after all, we all formed this group together!" he reminds us, and crosses his arms. Mary turns to him with the chair.

"Perhaps, but you were the one who played the sorcerer's apprentice. You're the one who put your friends' lives in danger. And you're the one that let Xana destroy Franz Hopper's diary!" Mary chastises.

"Fine I get it," Jeremy says. He turns away from us and starts walking to the freight elevator.

"Jeremy, wait!" Aelita exclaims. I run over to him, and look back at Mary. I then look forward and I walk with him, and we enter the freight elevator. Aelita runs over to us but I press the red button to go up, and the freight elevator's doors start closing. Aelita stops running,. She, Mary, Yumi, Sissi, Ulrich, and Odd look at us. They soon disappear from our sight when the doors close completely. I look at Jeremy and the freight elevator goes up.

"Jeremy, I'm sorry," I say. Jeremy takes off his glasses, I see tears forming in his eyes. He wipes them away and puts his glasses back on, pushing them to the bridge of his nose.

"I'm going to call my dad," Jeremy says.

"What… why?" I ask him, as the freight elevator stops, reaching the top floor. The freight elevator's hangar door opens. He looks at me.

"It's clear I'm not wanted here. I'm sure Aelita still believes in me… and even you… but the others… I just…" he trails off. He walks out of the freight elevator.

"Jeremy please, you don't need to go!" I exclaim. He ignores me, and keeps walking.

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside Lila and Aelita's room**

I slam our door, infuriated.

 _Mary… I can't believe you would say something like that to Jeremy. Now he might be leaving… I know you must have gone through some terrible things inside the Scyphozoa's mind. But for it to change so drastically…_ I think.

Going to my desk, I open the drawer my diary is in. Taking its key, I unlock the diary. I grab a pen and put the key, and the pen on the desk. I sit down, and grab the pen, and start writing in a new page in the diary.

 _Dear Diary,_

 _I don't know what to do. Jeremy plans on leaving… how can I stop him? I mean after all, I have no idea if he'll truly leave in this timeline. Anything can happen. For example… Mary's back. But she's different. She looks weaker physically, and her mind also seems strained. I can't imagine what she must have gone through when she was trapped inside the Scyphozoa's mind. When we caught up the other night, I told her a lot about what happened during her missing time here. But -_

I stop writing and my eyes widen, making a realization.

"I didn't tell her that Franz Hopper's diary was destroyed! How could she have known that?" I ask myself. Biting my lip, the thought gets to me and I stop biting my lip, making another realization.

"I'M SO STUPID!" I exclaim. Getting out of my chair I close the diary, and lock it with its key. I put both in the drawer, closing it shut. Then, I turn and run to the door.

I open the door, and close it behind me, not bothering to lock it behind me. This is too important. I make my way to run upstairs to Jeremy's room.

 **The boy's dorm floor**

Reaching the boy's dorm floor, I see Jeremy already closing his door. He looks at me. He's shouldering his messenger bag, I assume his laptop is in it.

"Lila?" he asks. He starts running up to me and I run to him.

"It's not Mary, it's Xana!" we both exclaim at the same time, practically shouting in each other's faces.

 **Afterwards**

"How did you know?" Jeremy asks. We start walking, and make our way to park to get to the woods.

"I realized no one told her that Franz Hopper diary was destroyed," I reply.

"I figured that was the case," Jeremy nod. "We're going to need to play this carefully. Do you think you can distract her? If this idea of mine works, we may be able to free the real Mary Smith, today," he says.

"Right," I nod.

 _Jeremy, whatever your planning I hope you're right!_ I think, determined.

 **Inside the freight elevator**

Jeremy and I look at each other, I press the red button on the bottom to go down. The freight elevator's hangar door closes. We remain silent, as False Mary is certainly going to listen in on us, if she knows we're here. We're brought down to the scanner room.

She's probably focused on the other's. The freight elevator reaches the scanner room, the doors open, and we see Aelita in the scanner room. She looks at us confused. Jeremy puts his finger on his lips, and enters the scanner room. I press the red button to go up. The freight elevator's doors close, and it starts going up.

 _Now… how am I going to confront you false Mary?_ I think.

 **Inside the lab**

I press the red button to go back down and I walk in.

 _"Mary, I'm not in Sector Five. Something went wrong with the_ virtualization," Aelita informs. The freight elevator's doors close behind me.

"Don't worry Aelita, everything is under control. Lila will meet with you soon," False Mary says. False Mary turns to me.

"Ah Lila, right on time. Aelita's just been virtualized to Lyoko, there was a bug in the transfer when I tried to virtualize her directly to Sector Five," she says.

 _Yeah, a bug sure. More like you sent her there purposely,_ I think.

"What's wrong?" False Mary asks.

"Well Mary… if I'm being honest I'm not really liking the way you're managing things… or should I say Xana?" I ask False Mary. False Mary looks at me, her eyes pulsing with the symbol of Xana in them. She smirks.

"Very clever girl. But you're too late," she says. Raising her hand, she channels purple electricity in it. She fires at me quickly, not giving me enough time to react. The electricity goes through my body, I scream in pain as I'm hurled into the wall.

 _Ugh, that hurt,_ I think, looking at her. False Mary turns her face away from me and starts typing on the keyboard.

" _What's going on? Mary?!"_ Yumi asks.

" _We need some help!"_ Sissi exclaims.

"What did you do to them?!" I exclaim. Using the wall, I push myself up.

"I've fixed things so that they can never rematerialize. No more life points, and it's bye bye," she explains. She continues typing on the keyboard. "It's time for the grand finale," False Mary says. Hearing a strange noise on the computer, my eyes widen, realizing its the drone of the Scyphozoa.

 _Oh no, the Scyphozoa! Hang on Lila, surely Jeremy wouldn't send Aelita to Lyoko to her certain death. He must have had a plan… oh man could this mean that the Aelita that's on Lyoko is really a clone? And it has a trick up its sleeve?_ I think hopefully.

"Xana, please don't!" I act. "Whatever you're looking for, I'll let you have it! Just spare Aelita!" False Mary turns to me.

"You're such a silly girl. After Aelita's dead, you'll be next. And you still haven't even realized it have you?" False Mary asks.

"Haven't realized what?" I ask her. Looking at the window on the computer, Aelita's memories are starting to be taken. "I'm asking you, please order the Scyphozoa to stop!" I exclaim. The freight elevator's doors open. False Mary and I turn, to see Jeremy.

"Ah Jeremy. Come to watch your friend's demise?" False Mary asks.

"Nope," Jeremy answers. He walks into the lab and the freight elevator doors close.

"I've come to watch the real Mary be freed," he replies. My eyes widen, and so does False Mary's. She starts typing frantically.

"What have you done boy?!" she exclaims, slamming the keyboard. Looking at the window, we see Aelita's memories reach zero. We hear the Scyphozoa starting to screech.

"NO!" False Mary yells. She looks at Jeremy and myself. Jeremy laughs tauntingly, as I smile.

"You're through, Xana," I say. False Mary growls at me, and transforms into its spectre form, which is rather bigger than usual. The spectre vanishes into the ceiling.

"Wow," Jeremy and I say. I run over and give him a hug.

"Thank you, Jeremy," I say, letting go of him.

"You're welcome, Lila. Let me fix the others first, and then I'll virtualize you to Mary's location. We'll bring Aelita with us, so she can deactivate the tower. It's located in Sector Five," he explains.

"Wow. That's a first," I say. He nods and runs over to the computer. Meanwhile, I head to the scanner room.

 **Inside the scanner room**

The freight elevator's doors open. Looking at Aelita, she smiles at me. It appears she sent a clone using Jeremy's laptop.

"Very clever," I smile.

"It was Jeremy's idea. A little virus was implanted into my decoy's mind. Powerful enough to leave the Scyphozoa dazed and confused. Giving Mary enough time to free herself," Aelita explains, then smiles.

"Thank you so much," I smile. She nods then gets up and we take our scanners. Aelita taking the middle scanner, and myself taking the right scanner.

" _Ulrich, Odd, Sissi, and Yumi are all back to normal. Let's deactivate that tower, shall we?"_ Jeremy asks.

Nodding, Aelita and I step inside the scanners. The scanner doors close.

" _Transfer: Aelita, Transfer: Lila,_ " the scanner starts to spin.

"Scanner: _Aelita, Scanner: Lila,"_ he continues. The scanner continues spinning and starts humming.

" _Virtualization!"_

The bright light and gust of wind envelopes me, billowing my hair and lifting my time machine necklace off my shirt slightly. I'm virtualized to Lyoko.

 **Lyoko's Desert Sector**

Opening my eyes, I see Aelita and I falling on the small plateau where an unconscious, weak looking Mary is. We land. There's nothing surrounding us for more than a mile. Nothing except the digital sea. The plateau that was originally here must have been broken apart by Xana.

 _Another one of Xana's traps he intended for Aelita I bet. Sometimes those can be relentless,_ I think. She's in her business clothes, with black heels, since she doesn't have an actual avatar like us. Her brown straight hair has less color in it. She looks pale, not completely unhealthy looking, but not healthy either. Aelita and I run over to her. Reaching her, I gently shake her.

"Mary? Mary?" I ask her, pleadingly. She starts opening her brown eyes. They look tired, to the point of exhaustion.

 _Xana, what just have you made Mary go through to get whatever it was you were looking for?_ I think, furious.

"Li-lila?" she stammers. I nod. Aelita and I help her sit up.

"What happened to your hair? Please tell me that's a Lyoko design, and not the real thing," Mary says. I smile.

"I'll take care of the tower in Sector Five, Lila," Aelita says.

"Are you sure? What about the key mechanism?" I ask.

" _She'll find it. I have every confidence she will. Right Aelita?"_ Jeremy informs.

"Right. Send the transport orb Jeremy," Aelita requests.

" _Scipio,"_ he says. I imagine he's typing out the code. Sure enough The Transport Orb floats down seemingly out of nowhere, as it opens and scoops up Aelita only. It takes her to Sector Five.

"We need to get you back to Earth," I say.

"Yes. And while I have strong opinions about your hair choices, I do like your new outfit," Mary compliments.

"Thanks," I smile. I help Mary up.

"Lila I'm sorry about the three way link I had set up. I thought it was the only way I could really keep you safe," Mary says. "But I removed it right before the Scyphozoa took Aelita's decoy. I had a feeling there was something different about Aelita," she explains.

"That's good, and it's okay Mary I understand why you did it. It did keep me safe," I lie.

 _Mary can never know what really happened to me and future Aelita,_ I think.

"I'm happy to hear it," Mary smiles.

"So, how do we get you back to Earth?" I ask.

"Remember I can leave Lyoko by myself. I just need another moment to regain some strength to do so," she replies.

" _Xana might not give you that chance! Incoming!"_

Mary and I look at the incoming Hornets flying towards us.

"What do we do?" I ask.

"I'll fuse with you," Mary replies. Turning into her white smoke spectre form, Mary enters my body. It's our first time fusing on Lyoko. Feeling the surge of Mary's energy, I grab my bow. I pull two arrows from my quiver and I put them on the bow. My lightning bolt pendant glows immediately and yellow electricity flows throughout my arms, then into my gauntlets and into the arrows.

I let the two arrows fly right at the Hornets. Hitting the Hornets, they explode.

Taking out two more arrows, I put them on my bow and notice my gauntlets are are still charged up with yellow electricity.

 _ **I'm focusing your powers for you, so that way even if you lose focus, they are still maintained,**_ Mary explains.

"Ah thanks," I say and place them on the bow.

Holding the arrows, I charge them up with electricity. I pull the drawstring back. I release the arrows and let them fly. The arrows hit the eye of Xana on the Hornets, and shocks them. They explode. I put my bow back on its hook.

 _Nice job Mary,_ I compliment. Looking down, I see my gauntlets stop sparking with electricity.

 _ **Thanks, you too. It's good to be back,**_ Mary says.

Mary expels herself from my body. In her white smoke spectre form, Mary transforms back into her human form.

"Jeremy, you can materialize Lila now," Mary says, looking up, but Jeremy doesn't respond.

"Jeremy?" I ask him, looking up too.

Nothing.

I look at Mary and she looks at me.

"Something's wrong. Here, quickly!" I exclaim. Taking my hunter's knife out of its sleeve, I toss it to Mary. Mary hesitantly looks at it then nods. She stretches her arm out, and plunges the hunter's knife into me. She lets go of the hunter's knife, as I drop my knees to the ground and begin to devirtualize.

 **Inside the scanner room**

The scanners' doors open I rush out of the scanner and up the ladder.

 _"Aelita, please hurry and deactivate the tower! There's something wrong with Jeremy!"_ Mary exclaims, already inside the lab.

" _I'm nearly there!"_

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside the lab**

I get to the lab via the ladder shoot, and see Jeremy is breathing heavily, almost as if he's choking. He can't seem to catch his breath. I run over to Jeremy since Mary is already with him.

"Mary, I think Xana's suffocating him!" I exclaim. Jeremy continues to choke. Mary and I can't do anything to help him, but then suddenly he stops. Xana's spectre starts to leave Jeremy's body, allowing Jeremy to catch his breath.

" _Tower deactivated,"_ Aelita informs. Looking at the rather large spectre, it starts to vanish into the ceiling. It soon disappears completely. Jeremy fully catches his breath and looks at us.

"Lila… Mary, thank goodness. The others?" Jeremy asks.

" _If anyone can hear us, we need a way out! The Xana Bots are relentless today!" Sissi exclaims._

Jeremy sighs in relief. He runs over to the chair, and sits in it. Grabbing his headset, he starts materializing the vehicles.

"I'm materializing your vehicles! Get ready… now!" Jeremy exclaims. Mary and I look at four windows popping up, as the vehicles materialize.

 **Afterwards**

 **Back in Jeremy's room**

Jeremy is sitting on his chair. Jeremy, Yumi, and Odd are sitting on his bed. Sissi is sitting on Jeremy's desk, by his computer. Aelita is sitting in Jeremy's chair, while Ulrich and I are standing. Mary is back in the lab. She decided it would best to live there from now until she can afford her own place.

"We're very sorry, Jeremy. Lila," Sissi apologizes.

"We hope you aren't angry at us. The both of you I mean," Yumi says.

"We understand," I say.

"And we're not mad at you. What's more, I've checked out your bio schematics during yours and Sissi's rematerialization phase. There's no sign of alternation whatsoever," Jeremy informs.

"Oh what a relief," Yumi says. "I'm glad Mary was wrong."

"Me too," Sissi says.

"That False Mary you mean. After all, the real one is back in the lab," I remind her.

"Are we sure it's the real Mary this time?" Ulrich asks.

"Yes, it's the real Mary Ulrich. I know it in my heart, and besides after the Scyphozoa was defeated, Mary was freed. Plus the tower was deactivated, so yeah, definitely the real Mary," I reply. Ulrich nods.

There's a knock on the door.

"Who can that be?" Odd asks Jeremy.

The door opens up, a man around his mid forties looks at us. He has brown hair. He's wearing a long-sleeved brown jacket, with a dark blue turtleneck shirt, and red pants.

"Dad!" Jeremy exclaims.

"Are you ready son? Let's go," Grandpa Belpois says. Jeremy gets up from his bed.

"Wait uh, things have changed. Let me explain," Jeremy tells him. He grabs his father's arm, and guides him out of his room. He leaves the door open, as the two walk past the room.

"What do you think that was about?" Sissi asks.

"No idea," I reply.

 _But… it's nice to see Grandpa Belpois. Dad never talked much about him unfortunately,_ I think.

"See, here's the thing dad, I don't plan on going anymore," Jeremy says. We hear him from outside.

"You sure you've thought it over?" Grandpa Belpois asks.

"I'm really sorry I've made you come out all the way here over nothing," Jeremy replies.

"Don't you worry about it. And don't forget to give us a call from time to time," Grandpa Belpois says.

"I promise," Jeremy says. We hear footsteps moving away from the room, and then Jeremy comes back in.

"Hey, what's going on here? Where were you going?" Odd asks.

"Nowhere," Jeremy smiles.

"Your father seems like a really nice guy," Aelita smiles.

"Yeah. I love him, he's great," Jeremy says.

"Like father, like son," Ulrich smiles. Jeremy smiles again. He walks over to his desk. Seeing this, Sissi gets up. Jeremy takes the framed picture from his computer desk, and places it onto the desk Sissi was sitting on. He lets the framed drawing stand, some us smile and laugh.

The drawing looks almost professional. Odd captured us well. We're all very lucky to have each other…

 **Later at night**

 **Inside the lab**

Reaching the lab, the freight elevator's doors open. Mary turns the chair and gets out. The freight elevator doors stay opened. It's weird the doors will stay open when it's in the lab, and weird when there are times the doors close. Never really understood why that is. I can't help but wonder what Mary wants since she texted me, telling me she wants to talk. I walk into the lab. Walking over to her, I then reach her.

"There's a lot we need to catch up on," Mary says. I nod.

"There is. For starters… did you leave a suitcase with a laptop in Franz Hopper's locker?"

Mary's eyes widen.

"What? A suitcase, with a laptop? No not at all. I never did anything of the sort. What kind of laptop is it?"

"It's a sleek looking one," I reply. "Definitely not from Hopper's time. And, there's an eight-digit passcode combination to unlock it. It was found in the suitcase, which had the initials MB on it. Thought that might stand for Mary Belpois."

"I can see why you might think that. How strange. If you bring the laptop to me, I can work on it daily. After all, I will have the time," Mary says. "Anyways, do you remember before Aelita was materialized… that I wanted to tell you something?"

I nod.

"Lila, there's a reason why you had a fainting spell when we first entered this timeline. Most importantly… there's a reason why there's an artificial intelligence in you."

"In me? You mean it's a separate being apart from myself?" I ask.

"Yes. You're human, in a sense, but yes basically. I wanted to tell you that before I was taken by the Scyphozoa," Mary answers.

 _So I'm human...… but in a sense? What does she mean?_ I think, surprised and confused.

"Okay… so what's the reason why I fainted?" I ask. Mary sighs. She turns away from me.

"Please… don't be mad. Everything we did…. We did to protect you."

"We?" I ask.

 _ **Child…**_ a voice speaks in my mind.

"Who's there?!" I exclaim. Mary continues to look away from me, saddened.

"Lila… I'm so sorry…" she trails off.

 _ **Please do not be angry with Mary. Everything she did, was as she said, to protect you.**_

"Who are you?!" I exclaim.

 _ **I…. I am Xana.**_

My eyes widen in shock.

"No… that can't be true! It can't be you!" I exclaim.

 _ **It is… and it isn't. It is time you learned everything about your past, which took place in the future you came from. Please… after I show you everything that truly happened to you… I hope you can forgive us. Now, close your eyes. It is time I showed you your history… Lila Belpois.**_

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 **TO BE CONTINUED**

 **IN:**

 _Lila Belpois_

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Author's Note:

Lila Belpois is our next chapter. Have popcorn or a snack ready. It's a long one.

Were you surprised by this chapter? Let me know in the review section. While I do of course enjoy long critique reviews, please be mindful of spoilers too for others! We'll return soon!

LyokoWarrior1994


	48. Lila Belpois

**Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is copyrighted by Moonscoop.**

* * *

I only own Lila. Mary is owned by **AeroJester203.**

* * *

Author's Note: This chapter will have a… less lighter tone than our usual chapters. Please do not skim ahead in the chapter. You've waited for it so why spoil yourself?

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 _Lila Belpois_

* * *

 **Inside an inactive tower in Cortex**

 **POV Xana's**

I had been forced to hide in this forsaken location for who knew how long. Still, as an ageless AI, time was on my side as I patiently waited for my sworn enemies to return. But the so-called Lyoko Warriors never did.

With nothing to do or towers to activate save the one and only in existence keeping me hidden, most of my time was taken up to reflect on my situation. To begin with, I asked myself for the reason why I never bothered to kill those meddling children.

The short answer was that they provided entertainment for me with their struggles I believed to be largely futile in the end, and I didn't want to part with that. They were my toys—pieces on a board that I could manipulate as I pleased.

Had I a face, it would have furrowed in rage at the memory of that damned Tyron coming into the picture. How I wished I could have seen the look on his face when Jeremy, Aelita, and the rest of the pests defeated me, thus costing his chance to defeat the Lyoko Warriors.

Right before I was completely eradicated, though, I switched networks and found the one belonging to Tyron's supercomputer. It ran Cortex, and I'd been in hiding to recuperate my power ever since. Had it not been for this floating tower I found within the sector, I never would have made it with my dwindling energy. I was not sure why Tyron left his supercomputer on, but he did. Perhaps he never got the chance to deactivate it, but it's kept me alive in any case.

Inside my enforced hiding place, I plotted numerous ways of killing Jeremy Belpois and Aelita Schaeffer, some simple and others slow and gruesome. Logic dictated that it was a pointless effort, though. The supercomputer for Lyoko was turned off quite some time ago.

Letting the time pass as I entertained myself with thoughts of killing each and every one of the kids that forced me to this point, everything changed when I began to hear the pulsations of an activated tower.

 _That's… not possible,_ I thought as I reached out with my senses to confirm my suspsicions. _Lyoko is online!_

The opportunity almost brought joy, had I not been beyond such things as a being of logic. I expelled myself from the tower and emerged in the perpetual yellow sky of Cortex.

 _Perhaps it's one of those pests, the Lyoko Warriors,_ I mused while flying off to head back. _Or it could even be someone new. Either way, my return to power is coming!_

 **Sector Five**

I reached my old home and integrated with its data, hiding within it. I then moved throughout the code and reached the nearest tower, a green halo of light indicating that it had been activated via the supercomputer in France.

 _I certainly did not do anything to activate a tower,_ I noted while secretly sliding in. _Hopper is dead, and his influence produced a white glow. Therefore, it can only be…_

At the base of the tower, I found someone who looked a bit like Belpois, or his Lyoko avatar at least. He appeared to have aged in the intervening time, wearing a futuristic body suit with boots, a belt, and holes at the end of the sleeves for his fingers to go through.

His hands touched an interface panel similar to the one I had at the Celestial Dome.

 _What is he doing?_ I wondered.

Belpois stopped and lowered his hands, glancing out towards emptiness of Sector Five. I happened to get a glance at his palms and noticed some sort of strange firing mechanisms built designed into the parts of the suit covering them.

When I noticed that he was looking at where I lurked in the data, I thought, _He shouldn't be able to sense me; he's only human. Could he…_

My tentative theory was disproven when Belpois sat down on the floor with a heavy sigh. The blond appeared troubled in some way. He raised his arm to the front of his chest below his mouth and began speaking.

"Project: Lila Belpois. Today, I begin the creation of a new life. If everything goes well, Lila Belpois will be our daughter. There has been no activity from either Xana or Tyron. I should be able to create mine and Aelita's child in peace."

I took a closer look while remaining invisible and saw that his arm had some kind of extra device attached. It was likely recording his virtual diary.

"I'm doing this because…" He paused before continuing with audible difficulty, "Aelita has been suffering from an illness for almost a whole year. The doctors keep bringing her in for tests, but they can't diagnose her. I've had to take some time off from work; my company and the rest of my buildings are being run by someone I trust. I'm welcome back there at any time. But I'm concerned that she's dying…"

 _She's dying?_ I thought in surprise. _From what?_

"I'm not even sure myself as to what could be killing her…" Belpois shook off the thoughts and continued with his entry. "We always wanted a child, but now we can't conceive one because of this sickness. Adoption takes too long, so I'm choosing to create one. People might think it's selfish of me to be away from my sick wife, but I have a team of round-the-clock nurses that are helping her while I'm away. For a time, I thought the supercomputer might help me find a cure, but creating a child here in Sector Five first might be for the best. If Aelita sees Lila, perhaps her will to live might become stronger while I do the search. That's my hope."

This whole situation was enough to leave me in awe at the perfect revenge set right in front of me.

 _I see, this is much better than I could have ever hoped for!_ I thought triumphantly. _If Jeremy creates the child, I can hide within her—live in her… and take my revenge on Belpois anytime, any day. This is perfection- no, poetic vengeance! If I stay in this data quietly, he won't find out that I survived. I can watch him make his entries here in Sector Five while he creates the child. A flawless plan… I just need to be patient a while longer._

 **January 20th, 2019**

I continued watching Belpois work as he periodically returned to Sector Five. Sometimes he wouldn't appear for a time. Others he would show up only after short periods of departure. I could not tell time in this sector and thus had no inkling of how long this "Project: Lila Belpois" had been going on for.

Belpois spoke again, "I'm almost done—just need to put the final touches on her. I'm not sure how Aelita would feel about Lila having pink hair… Maybe I'll go with blonde. I can give Lila her mother's eye color, brown. Yeah, that will work. During these past two months, Aelita's getting weaker and weaker. The doctors now believe she has some sort of new virus… and she's losing the battle. I just hope I make it in time."

He put his hand onto the hologram and removed it to leave a print of his hand.

After a moment, it appeared to confirm his identity and he continued, "Data complete. It's time."

Belpois turned around, and I was caught off guard when he appeared to be looking at me. He raised his hand, as if he's getting ready to fire.

 _No, it cannot be!_ I mentally cursed. _Belpois can't hurt me like this, but if he has found out-_

"Code… Lila," he said.

After a time, I settled back down while chastising myself for nearly revealing my position.

… _Bah, so much waiting for this revenge has made me irrational._

Belpois held his hands up, as if channeling energy into a space above him. The silhouette of a small body began to form out of data. The energy then fully condensed and a sleeping infant wrapped in a pink blanket appeared as she drifted down into his extended arms. Her eyes then slowly opened before fluttering with irritation as she started crying.

"It's worked…" the blond said with awe, clearly elated. "Now to go inside the tower so I can bring you home." The child stared curiously at her father before cooing when he held her to his chest and turned to enter the structure behind him.

 _The moment I've longed for is here,_ I thought, preparing a failsafe I'd come up with while waiting. _But as a last resort, I will split myself in two. The other half will lie here in Sector Five, dormant and unknown. So long as Belpois is sentimental and leaves the supercomputer on, my other half will survive if I somehow am discovered._

I expelled myself out of my hiding place, leaving half of myself inside the data of Sector Five. I flew as quickly as I could to get inside the tower, arriving right as Belpois stood in the center with his created child.

"Code… Earth," he said, activating the materialization process to take his newly made daughter out of Lyoko.

Belpois and the child lifted into the air, and I got my chance to move when he closed his eyes. I surged forward into the child's body, slipping inside before the three of us disappeared, everything going white.

 **Inside the scanner room**

My vision returned, and I found myself looking up at Belpois from in his arms within the scanner. I saw everything the child saw.

 _My plan… it worked,_ I thought in triumph.

Belpois looked down at her and smiled. The scanner doors opened, releasing a bit of smoke as he stepped out.

The child made another curious noise, irksome to me, but her father smiled nonetheless.

"Let's go see your mommy, Lila," he said.

The child made a little squeal that could've been happy and Belpois' smile turned into a grin.

I started to slightly regret my plan, if hiding in the body of a noisy infant was going to be the norm for a few years until the body was developed enough for me to possess. It was still my best option if I wanted to avoid Belpois catching on to my survival and erasing me completely, though. Acting too soon would leave me exposed with the child's uselessly multiplied strength unable to work with underdeveloped limbs.

 _This will be a very trying wait…_

 **At the hospital**

Belpois brought the child to the hospital where the girl I despised must have been staying. The child's eyes wandered about the unfamiliar building and couldn't help but be curious.

"Nurse?" Belpois called, a young woman approaching him a moment later.

"Yes, Mr. Belpois?"

"My wife… is she strong enough for a family photo today?"

She tilted her head while regarding the child curiously, "I wasn't aware Mrs. Belpois had a child."

"She's… a surprise," Belpois explained in a low tone. "I adopted her."

 _Keeping secrets as always, are you, Belpois?_ I thought in amusement. _What would the world think of their secret savior if they knew all the documents you forged, people you impersonated, and other illegal activities you did in your fight against me?_

"Oh my… Of course! I'll get Dr. Michaelson right away, so he can set it up," the nurse said.

She ran to get the doctor while the child looked at Belpois and yawned.

"You must be tired," he consoled. "I know, just hang in there and after we take a picture with mommy, we can take a nap. I'll show you to your new home."

Belpois looked up and the child followed his gaze. A man in a white coat, presumably this Dr. Michaelson, walked up to us.

"Mr. Belpois, your wife is stable. You can go inside and see her; I have a phone we can use that I think would be safer to take a family photo with."

"Thank you, Doctor," Belpois replied, continuing to cradle the child as he held her.

The doctor touched his phone, but I could not see what he was doing from my vessel's perspective. The doctor entered the room first.

 **Aelita's hospital room**

Jeremy entered the room with the child, whose eyes searched this new environment. She then focused her eyes on a woman… one whose pink hair has become darker. Her skin had become paler, and judging from her the bags under her eyes she had not slept much the night before. She was connected to several different machines at different parts of her body, her vitals tracked with beeping noises.

 _Aelita… No, this isn't right. She truly is dying,_ I angrily realized. _You are mine to kill, girl! How dare you die to an illness before I can exact my revenge?_

"Mrs. Belpois, your husband is here with your daughter. He'd like to take a family photo," Dr. Michaelson informs.

Aelita looked up at Belpois and the child, weakly asking, "Jeremy… a child? But how?"

"The adoption came through, Aelita…" he replied. "She even has brown eyes like us."

She smiled at the child, "She's lovely, what's her name?"

"Lila."

Aelita smiled again at Belpois and Dr. Michaelson cleared his throat, "We're ready for the photo now, if you are."

"Of course," Belpois said. He brought himself and the child to Aelita. Belpois and Aelita smiled, while the child looked at the doctor holding the phone. He pressed the phone and I heard a click.

"There, all done. I'll have it printed for you before the end of the day," Dr. Michaelson said.

"Thank you doctor. Aelita, would you like to hold our daughter?" Belpois asked.

"Yes, Jeremy, I would-" Aelita started to say but then she gasped. The monitors started going off, their screens blaring with alerts.

 _No, this cannot happen!_ I curse internally. _She is MINE to kill!_

Belpois looked stunned beyond belief, the child began to cry. Dr. Michaelson called an alert and the nurses rushed in. One male nurse gestured Belpois to leave with the child. They did so, and the child began crying louder out in the hall. Belpois stared at the room, too anxious to do more than hold his daughter closer in an effort to calm her.

From the room, all we heard was,

"Charging… clear! Again! Charging… clear!"

The alerts were still audible from beyond the doorway as one of the nurses from inside closed the door's curtain. Eventually, everything went quiet save for my vessel and the man who ushered us out emerged with a somber expression on his face.

Belpois turned to the nurse, "Aelita, what's- What's happening to her?"

"I'm sorry, sir… But I'm afraid she's gone," he answered.

Belpois shook his head in disbelief, "No… she can't be. She never got to hold her child…"

He looked down at the child whose cries could be heard throughout the building.

 **A few weeks later**

Belpois had a funeral for Aelita, having been told that she had wished to be cremated. When he had her ashes buried, his friends the Lyoko warriors had returned. Even his aged parents had come for the service, but Aelita had no relatives to speak of.

The child had stayed inside Belpois' home in the city. It was surrounded by tall buildings, but had a clear view of the factory. There were moments I considered leaving the child and Belpois alone. Aelita's fate was sealed and Belpois was crushed by his own emotions; my revenge could be considered complete, and I could move on to seizing control of the world.

However, throughout Belpois's ordeal, I had learned a few things about the Lyoko Warriors that came to watch the child during these few weeks—weaknesses that I could use against them. For instance, Ishiyama and Stern had gotten married, and Della Robbia – who now had brown hair for some reason – had married a woman he called "Sam."

They cared for the child since Belpois had barely been around. Presumably, he was still grieving over the loss of Aelita. Ishiyama visited most often as she was the one who lived closest to them and was less busy than Stern. I was unsure of what information I continued waiting for, until one day.

Belpois had finally returned home, and he stayed. He watched the child, fed her, and tended to her. There was something about his demeanor that had changed, he moved about with more… life, humans would call it?

With no one else to talk to, of course he started speaking with my vessel, "Lila… I'm sorry that I've been away from you. You're young, so you may not remember this, but… I've been at the factory—the lab, actually. I've been running calculations on the supercomputer. Lila, I'm going to build a time machine. I'm going to save Aelita."

 _A time machine?_ I wondered, thinking back to Hopper's work. _Is this similar to the return to the past function my incompetent creator discovered in the supercomputer?_

"I'll simply go back in time… and cure Aelita's illness, so that she doesn't become sick and die in the future. If I'm right, I'll save her. From what the doctor's told me after doing the autopsy… she died from a simple infection in her heart. This could have been prevented…"

Belpois looked down in melancholy for a moment before it was replaced with renewed determination. "But with my time machine, I'll fix everything. That's a promise."

I found myself genuinely questioning whether his mind had survived Aelita's death.

… _Is he insane? One cannot simply go back in time. Even if it were possible, the probability of this future changing isn't assured,_ I dismissed before considering it further. _However… if he does succeed, I will gain a second chance at killing my sworn enemy. Perhaps I will wait and see what he accomplishes._

 **2022**

The first three years of Belpois' plan consisted of mainly completing the design of the time machine. One thing he did, though, was build a lab right within this house that fairly resembled the lab in the factory.

The child was growing up, able to walk and speak quite fluently for a three-year-old human. She had the same intellect as her father. It made inhabiting her body much more bearable than her loud, emotional and unrestrained infant years.

Due to this intelligence, she had been homeschooled by another familiar face, one Elisabeth "Lisa" Delmas who had just finished obtaining her teaching degree. A far cry from the frightened female I occasionally saw through my various spectres' eyes all those years ago.

She taught certain subjects to my vessel, and eventually Delmas recommended that she be taught at Kadic academy. The school offered a K-12 learning environment, and Jeremy wanted Lila to start off in kindergarten.

A week later, the child was enrolled. However, as a genius, she was fairly bored in kindergarten. I personally thought her teacher was ignorant and patronizing in her saccharine way of education. It seemed Lila agreed with my opinion, because she called the teacher out and told her she was stupid.

 _I hope my thoughts aren't influencing this child,_ I thought. _While this class indeed makes a mockery of education, erratic behavior on her part could draw too much attention._

The child got into trouble with the teacher and received a slip to bring Jeremy to the school for a "talk." Belpois and the teacher conversed later that day, and Delmas was brought into the classroom to deal with this situation since she'd overseen his daughter's homeschooling before coming to Kadic.

"If Lila thinks your answer was wrong and 'stupid,' then she's probably right," she explained. "I don't mean to sound rude, but her father went to this school as a young boy ahead of his time. He was the youngest in his 8th grade class—practically a genius."

"Then what do you suggest?" the teacher asked.

Delmas gave it some thought before answering, "Well, if Lila needs a challenge then I suggest putting her in the first grade, to see how she does."

Belpois looked down at us, "Lila, what do you think?"

 _A challenge…_ I mused. _I'm sure this child is up to it._

"Okay!" Lila exclaimed happily.

At this, I decided to keep my thoughts to myself since my presence seemed to be influencing the child, even if only slightly.

 **The following Monday**

Belpois brought the child to the school, and she was surprised to be brought to a different classroom, perhaps not fully grasping what the meeting a few days ago had been about.

Upon entering the room by herself, she saw it was much bigger to accommodate the larger class and children who were a bit taller than my vessel. The child became scared, her breathing growing heavy as the teacher walked over to her.

"Miss Lila, you may pick any seat you wish to sit in that hasn't already been taken," she offered. How does that sound?"

"Okay," the child nodded. She tried to get her breathing under control and once she did, she walked to a seat.

My vessel took a seat next to a young girl who had a somewhat boyish look to her. She had short black hair, brown eyes, and was just as tall as Lila. She wore a green jacket with blue jeans and closed shoes.

"Um… hi, I'm Lila," the child said, hesitantly introducing herself.

The other girl looked at us and then turned to the blackboard where the teacher started using chalk. Belpois' daughter sighed and took out a notebook to write down what the teacher was.

After class broke for lunchtime, the child sat down outside by the vending machine area. She opened her lunch box which contained a sandwich and a juice box.

I found myself decidedly unimpressed by the contents, internally scoffing, _How original, Belpois. Even an emotionless AI such as myself knows a growing child needs more nutrients than that._

I noticed two female children walking up to us out of my vessel's peripheral vision, the child beginning to eat the sandwich without noticing them.

"Aww look, the little baby has a juice box!" one of them laughed.

"I'm not a baby," Lila retorted, annoyed by the girl.

"You totally are," the other girl sneered.

"Why are you even in our class? Stupid."

 _Typical humans, attacking that which is different,_ I noted. It was obvious that they'd singled out my vessel since she was alone and younger than the rest of the class. Either way, it was no concern of mine.

The child tried to ignore the girls and continued eating her lunch, but then the girl who first spoke took her juice box. Belpois' daughter then placed her sandwich back in her lunchbox and glared at the girls.

"Give that back!" she demanded with a stomp of her foot. The girls smiled and inserted the straw into the juice box.

"Fine, if you want it back, then here," the girl holding it offered. As she squeezed the carton, the juice squirted out of the box and onto us.

As the child sputtered while being sprayed, I felt a spark of fury at the action. Daughter of my enemy or not, this was still _my_ vessel, and these children had just attacked me—albeit in a very infantile way. Were it not for me trying to keep my existence a secret, they would be convulsing on the ground under my electricity for that indignity.

The girls laughed and tossed the juice box aside before the classmate from before, the boyish one, approached them.

"Leave her alone, or I'll tell!" the girl demanded. The two girls who picked on the child frowned, but decided to leave.

Belpois' daughter looked up at the one who stood up for her, "Thanks." She sighed as some of the juice started to drip down her hair.

"I have some napkins," the girl offered, and took out a handful of napkins from her backpack.

"Thanks," the child smiled as the girl sat down with her. She took some napkins and cleaned herself up.

The other girl offered her name, "My name is Lizzie. Or Liz."

"Lila."

"I know, you've told me already," the girl replied. "Can I ask, why you're in this grade?"

"It's a challenge. I like challenges," my vessel replied.

She nodded, "Good for you. Don't let those girls bother you, okay?"

"I'll try not to," Belpois' daughter said with a smile.

 **After school**

The child's first day eventually ended and it was Ishiyama – married or not, that is how I would know her – who picked her up from school. On her way home in a hovercar, she remained silent and Ishiyama noticed.

"Did your first day go okay, Lila?" she asked.

"Kinda…"

"Just 'kinda'? What happened?"

"Some girls were mean to me… but I made a friend," the child confided.

"Girls that age _can_ be troublesome," Ishiyama explained. "Sometimes it's best not to pick a fight or get into them. I still remember when Uncle Ulrich used to fight over me with William."

"They did?" my vessel asked.

"Yeah, it happened plenty of times, even during our early years at Kadic. But now they consider each other to be best friends. Uncle Odd, though, he was Uncle Ulrich's best friend since the very first day they met."

"Wow," the child said. "I hope Liz and I become friends like that."

"Liz is her name?"

"Yeah!"

Ishiyama smiled.

 **2024**

Two years have gone by from that day. The child is now five years old, and as time passed, she and the boyish girl grew as friends. Lila, however… experienced something unusual. Whenever she was in a big public crowd, she would have anxiety. I could detect the symptoms in her body each time.

This often occurred at a carnival Della Robbia had brought her to on numerous occasions. He didn't ignore the child's feelings; she hid them and I felt her anxiety worsen. It remained a secret until one day where Lila had fainted.

Della Robbia called Belpois later that day, who seemed busier than ever as time went by. I assumed it was because he finally started production on the time machine. He had yet to show Lila the lab, though, so I didn't know for sure. But when Della Robbia told him what happened, he made an appearance and suggested that perhaps Lila and he should spend some time together at a less crowded place.

"What kind of place would be less crowded and exciting like a carnival?" Della Robbia asked as his friend paced about the living room. Belpois stopped pacing when an idea struck.

"I know, restaurants," he replied.

"Restaurants?" the child asked. "How are they exciting?"

"They are, trust me, Lila. If you like it enough, we can make it our favorite go-to place," Belpois explained.

Lila smiled, and I could sense she was mainly happy to be spending time with her father as she answered, "Okay!"

"Say Lila, if you guys go to a restaurant, bring me some food. Sam's cooking can be kinda _bleh_ , sometimes," Della Robbia joked.

"Okay," the child giggled.

"She'll kill you if she found out you said that," Belpois pointed out.

"I know, I know," Della Robbia waved off.

"I was just joking, Einstein."

 **2025**

Lila had turned six recently. Belpois had taken her out to celebrate at their favorite restaurant—an Italian restaurant mixed with some French dishes.

She and Liz continued to grow closer, and Liz had made Lila a friendship bracelet for her birthday. The two then made a promise to each other to be best friends forever.

 _Be careful, child,_ I thought to myself that day. _Humans are such chaotic creatures that lasting companionship is a rarity._

Ironically, human nature had nothing to do with my prediction. It wasn't until some months later that an incident changed their friendship forever.

It was spring break and the children were now away with their parents. Lila had been in the living room, quietly watching one of her favorite shows on the television. I could also see Belpois working on his laptop—perhaps some calculations on his time travel plan. At the very least, his child seemed content to have him as a silent presence, which made things simpler for me.

Over time, I had come to realize the same as my thoughts sometimes ghosted across Lila's subconscious, hers interacted with mine. And since I had no physical body or anything else to occupy my time, I heard them far more clearly than she did mine.

Still, it was to be expected that inhabiting a single body for so long would cause some merging. So long as I kept my sense of identity and prevented a full melding, the plan to see if Belpois could complete his insane time machine was still ongoing. Then I would kill him with his own possessed daughter and go to the past to kill Aelita and take over the world.

My plotting was violently interrupted as the ground suddenly quaked, knocking several items off shelves and cupboards. Lila screamed at the shock of it all and Belpois was at her side in an instant, taking her under the coffee table before them with his laptop tucked against his side with his other arm. It appeared his survival instincts and reflexes had not completely deserted him during peacetime.

As the quakes continued, the television abruptly switched from her show to an emergency broadcast. Lila's brown eyes widened at the sight displayed, the restaurant she and Jeremy had often visited being destroyed in a chain of violent explosions.

As the aftershocks of the destruction wound down, the two got out from under the table and Belpois immediately turned the TV off with the remote still on the table before Lila could see the aftermath of the devastation, sparing her the sight of any possible corpses.

"It's started…" he uttered. "Lila, I'm so sorry…"

Lila turned to her grief-stricken father and asked, "Daddy, why is that thing hurting people?"

"It's because I made a mistake. But in time I'll fix it. I'll make sure Xana never hurts anyone ever again," Belpois promised, making me pause.

"Xa-na?" the child repeated in confusion.

"Xana. It's like a virus, a thing that makes someone sick. Except this virus is digital. It's technology that's evil." His eyes gained a faraway look, "I remember this one time… I got the most painful shock I had ever received." Then he chuckled and added, "At least from a vending machine."

"What happened, daddy?"

"The supercomputer was activated only for a few weeks," Belpois explained. "But that's when Xana started to become active. I didn't know at the time, all I wanted was to get a drink that I liked from the vending machine. I pressed number six and zap! I was electrocuted! I wish I could have pressed number seven. That number supposedly gave you good luck."

"Really?" Lila asked, she couldn't help but giggle.

Her father smiled back, "Really."

 _A valiant effort, Belpois. She might be intelligent at her young age, but you distracted her from something devastating. But why are you so sure it was me that did it?_ I thought. After all, I had been hiding under his nose for years now and had nothing to do with the attack on the restaurant. It could very well have been human terrorists.

"Say dad… How do you know Xa-na did this?" Lila asked, picking up on the question.

Belpois looked at her for a few seconds, and appeared about to try distracting her again before he sighed.

"I know he did this… because the attack was instant—no explosion from a bomb or anything manmade would be capable of that much destruction. Even if I scanned earlier for any signs of him or another bad man that worked with him, deep down, I knew there was a risk of Xana coming back so long as the supercomputer was on…"

… _The supercomputer,_ I realized. _I left my other half on it and Belpois – insane, sentimental fool that he is – has been keeping it activated to run his time travel calculations! If it's become autonomous at this point, I might not be able to stop-_

I froze at that thought, shocked at where my mind had been going. Stop it? Why would I? The two halves of myself should have the same goal.

Belpois shook his head, speaking again during my pause, "Lila, you're so young now, you shouldn't have to deal with this."

Lila was about to say something when his phone started to ring. He took it out and answered.

"Yes, this is Jeremy Belpois. May I ask who's calling?" There was a short pause.

"Oh… Mrs. Jones. Yes, Lila's here; does Lizzie which to talk to her?"

I could feel Lila's heart lift, her heartbeat going at a slightly faster rate.

 _Lizzie's calling! I wonder if she wants to hang out. I really like her…_ she thought.

Belpois paused again, longer this time. His eyes widened, apparently having received some shocking news.

 _No…_ I thought. _The odds of her being in that particular building at that exact time would be insignificant, at best._

"I see… I'm very sorry. I'll let her know," Belpois replied.

Lila's facial expression quickly saddened; she thought that her friend wouldn't be able to come. Belpois hung up the phone and looked at Lila apprehensively.

"Um… Lila, Lizzie's mother told me…" He appeared at a loss for words before he admitted, "Lizzie and her father were at the restaurant today…"

Lila's eyes widened and it took a moment for her to respond.

"Huh…?"

Belpois walked towards Lila, kneeling down and giving her a hug, "Lila…. Lizzie's gone."

The grave news I had expected, as well as Lila's shock slowly giving way to disbelief and great sadness. What I didn't expect was the phantom tug at my very being. Thinking it an anomaly, it wasn't until I'd compared it with some experiences of Lila getting in trouble at school and the similar experience on her.

My conclusion: I felt guilt for being indirectly responsible for Liz's death. The effect of reaching that result was near instantaneous as I tried to reject it.

 _This… This cannot be! I am a being of logic!_ I denied as I walled myself off in the deepest recesses of Lila's mind to protect myself against the turbulent storm of emotions brewing. _I cannot be feeling GUILT! Why should I care about one human among billions?_

"No!" Lila screamed. She pushed her father out of the hug and to her room down the hall. She opened the door and slammed it shut. She then slouched down and started to cry.

 _I liked her… I really liked her,_ Lila thought. She looked at her friendship bracelet and yanked it off her wrist before throwing it against the wall, breaking it into pieces.

As she curled her knees up against her body and sobbed further, the answer came to me as I felt her despair hammering against me with all the force of a tsunami.

 _No… Lila's thoughts, her emotions!_ I realized. _I don't just register them as occurring in her body, they're contaminating me like her thoughts are!_ Another sign of such came to me a moment later. _How long have I been calling her Lila?!_

I decided that something had to be done before I was infected further. I would erase all memories of Lizzie Jones from her mind and cut her torrent of emotion at the root.

 _That way Lila- My VESSEL won't taint me anymore._

 **2028**

Three years later, the child would be turning nine soon. She was eight years old now, and during this time, I made sure my vessel forgot about Jones. Belpois never brought her up in conversation, so there was no need to be concerned that he would ask about her.

I kept myself sequestered in the deeper subconscious of the child's mind to avoid her active thoughts and emotions from reaching me as easily. Belpois had started showing her his lab at their home, so the plan was moving forward.

I knew the way in now and could easily sabotage his hopeless time machine as I wished. That is, if I didn't want to use it to seek revenge on Aelita.

One day, Belpois brought up a specific subject while they were in said lab.

"Lila, this may be difficult for you to understand, but the world won't always be in the state that it is now," he said.

My vessel looked to him, "How do you plan on fixing Xana then?"

"I'm going to build a time machine," Belpois answered, as if it were that simple. "If I travel back in time and become part of the events to make a new future, then this timeline won't happen."

The child blinked in confusion and then asked, "Um… if it won't happen, what happens to me?"

"You'll grow up in a new timeline. Where there's no devastating destruction that Xana displays every day." He appeared wistful for a second as he added, "Where… where your mother and the rest of our family may still be alive."

She furrowed her brow in thought and added, "And you. What will happen to you?"

"Hypothetically, if I become part of the events of the new timeline there are two possibilities coinciding with two theories," Belpois explained. "According to the grandfather paradox, I disappear. My existence from this future, that Xana has destroyed, disappears. By the ontological paradox… the timeline will branch off, the old one not occurring, but I continue existing as the cause of it, technically having existed from nothing with the future gone."

He set his hand on the armrest of his chair and looked down in thought, "In that case, I'll have to find a way of living on my own in the new timeline. There will be two Jeremy Belpois's—one from the new timeline and me. I'll most likely have a new family… and I won't be able to see you. But you wouldn't know that, because the new you will not have the memories you create in this new timeline."

"Does that make any sense, Lila?" Belpois asked as he fixed his glasses. Lila stared at him blankly.

"No."

For some reason he gave a light chuckle before going back to work on his desk where some unidentifiable parts lay. Production had started on the machine itself.

It would be so easy to kill him and cement my rule, but I needed to focus on keeping myself separate from the child so that I wasn't further muddied with her emotions. At least that was what I told myself. My logical mind told me that all I had to do was separate from her and be done with this plan to go back in time to kill Aelita.

But something kept me from leaving each time. When I saw my other half's devastation, all I could think is about what would happen if we fused back together. It obviously had more power than me. Would we become one mind, two in one being? Or was it fear of being eclipsed and destroyed that kept me in my current vessel? Such a thing should have been impossible for me to register, yet here I stood lurking in a human body.

 _I never calculated that my other half could grow stronger than me when I left it behind on_ _Sector Five_ _. Perhaps going back in time is the best hope for my rule._

More time passed, and the child's ninth birthday came and went. Delmas celebrated it with her after school, Belpois forgetting due to working on his time machine. He spent several days at a time in his lab by that point, Delmas bringing her to and from school.

 **2030**

Two years had passed and Belpois' work on the time machine continued at a steady pace. He had celebrated his daughter's tenth birthday with her, but her eleventh was approaching and he showed no indication of remembering.

 _Pathetic as always, Belpois. You fixate so much on what was or what could be that you ignore what is right in front of you,_ I privately derided.

Luckily, Delmas had given the child some courses ahead of her grade to learn from and keep her busy. With that, it meant that she wouldn't affect me overly much with her runoff emotions.

On that note, Elisabeth Delmas had taken over running Kadic Academy after her father passed away. We never learned whether it was natural causes or an attack from my other half, but she was determined to carry on.

She kept Kadic running despite random buildings being detonated in different countries every month. She didn't want the students to live in fear; she wanted to make school engaging and have them learn in peace.

Delmas was currently dropping us off at Belpois' house. The hovercar stopped as she mused, "You know… despite Xana ruling the world, it's given me a second chance to be better to kids."

"What do you mean?" the child asked while taking her bag.

She paused before admitting, "Your father would never tell you this, but I was always mean to him and his group. Especially to little kids, too."

My host blinked, unable to compare that with how Delmas acted now, "You were?"

The woman nodded with a regretful look, "I remember this time when Milly, a seventh grader, asked Ulrich out. I laughed at her when she got rejected by him. Understandably, she was too young for him… but the way I went about it, I was cruel."

"Well, you're a different person now. What's done is done," the child said with a smile, thanking her for the ride home.

"Thanks, Lila," Delmas nodded before changing the subject. "You know, you're really smart for your age. I can't believe you're turning eleven in just a few days."

"Me neither… maybe I can skip the homework this weekend?"

While a friend, Delmas was still an educator and she wryly raised her eyebrow, "Uh, no. you need to study. I want all your foreign language assignments completed on time for Monday—English, Italian, and Latin."

"Okay, Ms. Delmas," the child sighed. She got out of the hover car and walked to the door before heading inside. The child spotted her father, Belpois being on the phone.

"I know," he said. "I know, William, I know."

"Uncle William?" his daughter asked while setting her bag down. While she hadn't seen him as much as the others over the years, the child still knew him.

Belpois nodded, and my host walked up to him. Right as she arrived, he sighed before hanging up the phone and looking at us.

"Your uncle thinks Xana is planning on getting to him, and I tried to tell him he was just being paranoid. That Xana has only been blowing up places in random countries… but he's convinced." Belpois shook his head, "It was because at one point, William was Xana's right hand man. That wasn't his fault Lila, Xana took control of him, and it took us a while to free him too…"

"I see…" she trailed off. "What about us? Are we safe?"

"We are. My company buildings act as a sort of network. They use a special program I developed shortly after Xana's first attack on the restaurant to block all radio signals coming from and towards our house and redirect them randomly throughout the country. We should be safe for a while if Xana can't find where we are, exactly," Belpois explained.

"And what will William do?"

"He's going into hiding," her father replied.

"He said he has a friend here in France that can help protect him."

"And Uncle Odd? Aunt Sam? Aunt Yumi and Uncle Ulrich?" the child asked, concerned about their well-being.

"All safe. Yumi and Ulrich are in Barcelona, helping out some refugees."

"Okay… then I better go and do my homework like Ms. Lisa wanted," she said while grabbing her bag again to take to her room.

 _Jeremy mentioned the restaurant, the first time in years,_ I mused, noting that it didn't cause much reaction in my host. _It's a good thing I erased that part of Lila's life._

 **2033**

At age 13, Lila grew angrier with her father. I wasn't sure what the cause of this had been, but Belpois did not know how to handle it.

She'd argue with him sometimes, and even some of her teachers on occasions when she was really upset. For the most part however, she was kind towards Delmas, who had mentioned her anger might be caused by something called puberty. And with the child being 13, turning 14 soon, Sissi deduced Lila was a late bloomer.

I knew about the process intellectually and could detect the hormones coursing through her body as it changed and developed. Still, I had never realized it was such a period of rampant emotion and hid in the recesses of her mind to weather out the next few years. Despite my best efforts, I could no longer emotionally detach myself from my host to the point where I merely consider her a vessel. But that didn't mean I had to let her contaminate me with her emotions further.

A few months later, before Lila's 14th birthday, my other half did something I did not expect.

While the world leaders had convened to discuss how to face the global threat it presented, my other half used a poisonous substance to choke them all out, similar to an attack I used at Kadic once. Belpois had Lyoko and tried to deactivate the towers with a new program he created that would allow him to remotely do so from the lab in the factory. However, my other half had activated too many towers for him to handle.

Lila and Belpois had not heard from Dunbar or the other Lyoko Warriors, and with this news, their concern grew. The last they knew of Stern and Ishiyama, they were in Barcelona, while Della Robbia and his wife had disappeared. Kadic Academy had been closed as well after the world leaders died, and Delmas left for safety as well.

Now with Lila and her father out of touch with their family and friends, all they had was each other. Belpois would teach some subjects to her, trying to keep her studies up, and then there were days where he would work on his time machine by himself.

During this time, Lila was alone with her thoughts and me. While I resolutely did _not_ allow myself to feel guilt for the situation, I could acknowledge that the situation had come about because of me.

 _If only I hadn't left my other half inside the supercomputer,_ I thought. _Then I wouldn't be stuck with Lila. I could be the emotionless artificial intelligence I used to be, without fear of being captured and absorbed as a power boost for my other half._

Even to my own metaphorical ears, though, that reasoning sounded hollow. At this point, I was probably only fooling myself, but it would be the end of the world before I openly admitted to caring about Lila, even privately.

My host seemed to be especially bothered this day about something. Perhaps it was the fact that Belpois would miss yet another birthday this year. She drew on a paper, simplistic figures of her and her father holding hands. On top of the paper, she drew dark clouds which piqued my curiosity.

 _Is it because she's upset… or does she feel like she's losing him?_

 **2035**

Lila had turned 15, and within these two years she had been stuck inside the house. It was too dangerous for her and Belpois to go outside; we heard buildings destroyed every other week. A few of his company buildings remained intact, but I highly doubted that there were people hiding away in them.

While Lila's birthday was just two months from now, Belpois' time machine had now reached its halfway point in construction. He'd most likely need a power source… and he would probably go to the factory for it.

 _It's a dangerous move. Lila has not had contact with any other human besides her father,_ I thought. _Perhaps it was a mistake to make her forget Lizzie…_

Lila was reading one of her schoolbooks to pass the time when her father walked up the staircase from his lab in the basement. He walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder to get her attention.

"We need to go outside. I have to grab something from the factory," Belpois said.

She blinked in surprise, "Are… are you sure? It's been so long since I've been outside—since _we've_ been outside."

"I know. But we don't have any other choice," Jeremy explained. He went to the table where he had placed a lead case the other day, along with a bag and what looked to be a radiation suit that he stored in it. He unzipped the bag and placed the metal case inside it before closing it up again.

"Let's go. It'll be alright," he reassured.

 _For once, I hope you're right, Belpois…_ I thought. _Even if I don't consider you a "friend," you matter to Lila._

"Okay," Lila nodded.

By now, there was simply no denying it anymore. It had been a process I'd fought tooth and nail against, but there was no doubt that I had grown to care about Lila as her rampant emotions changed me from hiding within her for so long.

While the larger population of the world still didn't matter much to me, I didn't know what I would do with the time machine if given the chance now. What was once an obvious answer no longer came to me.

 **In the city**

Lila and her father walked through the city, which was nothing more than a ghost town. Homes, businesses, parks and Jeremy's company buildings seemed completely abandoned.

It was a miracle Belpois and Lila were not seen or apprehended on the way to the factory. That, or my other self-had plans for them. Plans I feared that would cost one of them their lives.

My suspicions proved justified on the way back, when they heard strange noises coming from behind them and turned around. A horde of half a dozen alien-like creatures were emerging from the shadows, copies of the one I'd possessed before. But they'd been upgraded with robotic limbs and sharpened metal tail tips, making for much more lethal models.

"Dad! What are those ugly things?!" Lila exclaimed.

Belpois knew not to waste time and hurriedly grabbed his daughter's hand, the two of them running while the aliens pursued them on all fours, leaping off and climbing across walls to try boxing them in.

"They were used in a very old film, and a director named James Finson created the design of the creature for an old film. Xana possessed it, and our Xana now must have remembered doing so!" he explained while running through an alley in the hopes of creating a bottleneck, only to reach a dead end. "We're trapped!"

The creatures started crawling towards them, making robotic growls as their limbs whirred with each movement. Belpois held Lila behind him as she backed up in fear. I could feel Lila's heart pump faster and faster. Raising their arms, the mechanical monsters revealed holes in their hands that started glowing with red light.

"BANZAI!"

The shout came from above as narrow yellow laser beams rained down on the creatures, shorting them out and causing them to crumble as the influence of my other half left them in light of their malfunction. When the last creature went down, Belpois and Lila looked up at the man who just saved them.

 _He's still alive?_ I mused in wonder while still grateful for the rescue.

Up on the fire escape was clad in his usual purple shirt, matched pants and black boots, a dark grey trench coat added to the ensemble, along with his brown hair having grown down to his shoulder blades. Attached to his waist was a belt with two holsters, obviously to hold his weapons.

He spun his silver laser guns and placed them inside before dropping down onto the ladder which extended to deposit him lower to the ground where he jumped off to land.

Belpois took Lila's hand, and the two of them walked up to the familiar person, the former tentatively asking, "Odd… is that you?"

"Long time no see, you two!" Della Robbia exclaimed with a grin, giving a thumbs up.

 **Afterwards**

The three of them emerged from the alley started to walk the empty streets of Paris. Instead of heading home, they wanted to make sure they weren't being followed. They kept an eye out for more creatures when Della Robbia started to talk.

"Our mutual friend told us you'd be going back into town one day to search for something from the last time I heard of him. What were you thinking, and why bring Lila?"

"She… she needed to be outside a little. Being in that house of ours… it's not good for her. And… I needed a material for something," Belpois answered. Then he retorted, "And what about you? Does Sam know you're out- Oh."

Della Robbia had turned to him with an uncommonly dour look, still keeping his face mostly hidden from Lila's view. He masked the somber emotion and raised a curious eyebrow as he continued speaking.

"Is the uranium for that time machine of yours?" the brunet asked.

Belpois' eyes widened, "How did you know?"

"Like I said, our mutual friend told me," Della Robbia explained. "Jeremy… time travel is crazy. It can't fix what's already been done. It…. it can't bring Aelita back."

"Lila hasn't heard about time travel since she was very young. I'm not trying to bring Aelita back… I'm trying to save all of us." Belpois looked down, "Besides… I heard about what happened in Barcelona. Did Yumi and Ulrich make it out?"

His friend shook his head and replied, "We haven't heard from them since it happened… since Xana blew it off the map."

Lila looked at her father, surprised by this new information.

Della Robbia quickly changed the subject,

"Say Jeremy, about that work in progress time travel machine… How long do you think it will take to get it up and running?"

Belpois fixed his glasses, "It's still going to take at least eight more years. I don't have all the materials yet. That's why Lila and I needed to go outside."

"How come you haven't told me since I was little, dad?" Lila asked. "I mean… I'm only fifteen years old and you keep a lot of secrets from me."

Her father looked at Lila and nodded, "I do, and it's to protect you."

They heard metallic roaring from afar, and the three of them turned to the direction of four more creatures, their eyes beginning to glow red.

"You two need to get going! I'll take care of them!" Odd exclaimed. He took his laser energy guns out of his hoisters and began running to attack the creatures. "Come on, you movie rejects!"

Belpois grabbed his daughter's hand and fled to leave the city in hopes of diverting my other half's creations from their home's true location.

The two gained some miles between the conflict. When Lila and Belpois finally stopped running a couple of miles away, they panted heavily in an effort to catch their breath.

"We- we left Uncle Odd there all alone…" she lamented. "Why?"

"If… if we didn't, we would be…" Belpois was a bit more composed and regained his stamina quickly. "He'll be fine; I'm sure of it."

"Dad, I-" Lila said, but was interrupted when they heard screeching again.

I was shocked to see more creatures had arrived. My host looked ahead to see several creatures starting to chase them.

"No, we're trapped!" Belpois exclaimed.

He looked back at the city, and I assume he was trying to calculate the amount of distance we could gain on the creatures before heading back to the safety of home. However, I could feel that Lila was still drained. She needed time to recover.

The creatures stopped, caught up to us and raised their arms to charge their lasers. At first, they aimed at Belpois, but then switched their target. Lila was petrified with fear and she couldn't move. The lasers fired.

All but she and I could hear was footsteps running towards us, and then her father's scream.

"Lila!"

He pushed her out of the way, taking the lasers through his chest and out the other side. Lila fell to the ground and looked to see her father's perforated body instantly go limp as he fell to the ground.

 _No… Jeremy? No, this can't happen! NO!_ I internally screamed.

"Dad… you can't be dead! Dad!" Lila screamed in despair.

She went to her father to try checking his pulse – fast and weak; he'd already gone into circulatory shock from the grievous injuries – the smell of burnt flesh emanating from Jeremy's downed form. The creatures took this advantage and surrounded us on all sides. Lila shook his lifeless body in a vain effort to wake him, even as the charred holes stared back at us, the lack of blood and organ tissue being the only mercy afforded.

It was no use and she let out a piercing cry. Her despair washed over me, and rather than retreat from it I let it wash over. I immersed myself in every iota of her raging anguish. Even if I had barely begun "feeling" myself, it was only a pale shadow compared to a human. I soaked in her raw emotion and converted it to something I was intimately familiar with, if only on a theoretical level.

I took over—both Lila's mind and body. It was easy considering she was rapidly slipping into a grief-induced unresponsiveness. There was no question or doubt about what I wanted now. Getting up, I wiped away our tears with a swipe of my arm and focused all the latent despair I was "feeling" into hatred and rage.

" **XANA!** " I roared in Lila's distorted voice. I channeled electricity throughout her body – something I hadn't done with a human in years – and I unleashed everything. I unleashed our rage. I unleashed my power. I unleashed a veritable storm of electrical blasts at the creatures.

One by one, they went down, my electricity frying the creatures' circuits and even charring or melting the false skin over parts of them. Weaker than my other half I might have been, but I was still a fraction of the original Xana instead of a mere spectre. As the burnt and inactive husks of the monsters lay around us, the only unscorched ground in a circle around my host and Jeremy, I let out a breath at the cathartic release of having destroyed them.

Tears still flowed out of Lila's eyes, and I looked down at Jeremy's body at my feet. He wasn't breathing, but I charged my host's hands with electricity regardless. I noticed something peculiar about the color… it was yellow, unlike the purple I had so long ago.

I ripped open Jeremy's shirt and increased the charge in Lila's hands. It hadn't been seven minutes yet, and the blood flow was stopped by the cauterized holes. If I could restart his heart… I sent a small electrical shock through his chest. His body lifted slightly, but it was still lifeless.

 _Again, I have to try!_ I thought.

I reset the charge and placed Lila's hands on Jeremy's chest again. I shocked it and the body lifted once more… but it was useless.

 _I'm just fooling myself again,_ I realized as my logic reasserted itself over the emotion of the moment. _I don't know the extent of the damage, and I can hardly expect that all of those blasts missed his vital organs. We're simply in no place to treat his wounds with no equipment… I'm sorry, Lila._

I couldn't let her bear this pain any longer… I had to erase this memory. These last few hours would be erased from Lila's mind forever, but not mine. I would remember. I just hoped nothing in the near future would cause her to recall any of this.

With that course decided, I knew what I had to do next. I had to bury Jeremy's body. I couldn't simply leave him there; the gnawing feelings in my being wouldn't let me. Though I relied on my ability to not truly feel emotions as I picked his cooling corpse up and carried him over Lila's shoulders.

 _I hope Della… Odd, made it out okay. For Lila's sake, if nothing else,_ I thought as I sped off after making sure Jeremy and his bag were secure.

 **Afterwards**

It took what felt like a few hours, but was only in fact a few minutes before I found a small forested area that had survived Xana's devastation. The bag with the case containing the uranium, I took off first before laying him down again. With no shovel, I got to work and used Lila's strengthened hands to dig up a hole some feet deep while being long and wide enough to accommodate its soon-to-be inhabitant.

Genuine hours passed, and Lila's head beaded with sweat from the amount of work I forced her to do. Her mind had been in an all but catatonic state for a few hours now… I needed to give back her free will soon before she suspected something.

I gently lowered Jeremy's body in the ground and it took only half an hour longer to push the upturned dirt back into the hole and pat it down. It was now sunset, and there was nothing but silence. No bugs, no birds. Only me and Jeremy's unmarked grave. I summoned a sphere of electrical energy and used it as a light to guide my way home.

 _Lila needs someone to look after her…_ I thought before glancing back at the freshly upturned earth. _Jeremy, please forgive me. I do not mean to have someone impersonate you, but this is for Lila's wellbeing._

 **Inside Lila's home**

After returning home, I brought the uranium downstairs into the lab. I then had Lila cleaned up with some soap, and just a towel to dry herself with. Once most of the dirt was no longer on her body, I placed her old clothes on Lila's bed as well as her towel. Life without water hadn't been an easy one for her growing up, but a soap wash worked just as well. She and her father only used water for drinking purposes and had enough in the storeroom to last them for years.

Once I had her dressed again, I sat on the bed and sighed.

 _It won't be the same without him…_ I mused, a faint stir of melancholy welling up for a moment. _But Lila will believe he's still alive after what I'm about to do. If you ever learn the truth, child, know that I was only looking out for your well-being._

I closed my eyes and expelled a much smaller part of me outside my host's body, a spectre-like being. As I filtered out my influence and control over it, it went from yellow to white, becoming its own independent being that I programmed to care for Lila. I formed it into a tall woman with brown straight hair and brown eyes. She looked old enough to be in her early thirties and wore the same outfit that Jeremy was last in.

Once she was fully formed, she asked,

"What are your orders, master?"

" **I need you to pose as this child's father,** " I answered. " **Your memories of him should be a part of you.** "

The female spectre closed her eyes and then reopened them, "Yes they are. But… why not tell the child the truth about her father?"

"You know why."

"But if you simply-" my creation started to say, but I interrupted her.

" **If you tell her, I will stop this child's heart!** " I threatened. " **She will die, do you not understand?!** "

 _If I need to play the enemy here, so be it,_ I thought. _I will shield Lila from the truth as long as necessary._

"Yes… Very well, then," the spectre replied unhappily. "What will you name me?"

I pondered on her question, thinking of a name that would suit her.

"Mary. Mary Smith will be your name."

 **Eight years later**

 **2043**

Lila's short stupor-like state from that day had no lasting ill effects on her. In fact, Mary got along well with Lila while posing as her father. My threat worked wonders, and she had not divulged the secret of Jeremy's death.

Unfortunately, we lost the factory to a satellite laser attack from my other half. And the Hermitage three years after that, shortly after Lila had turned 18.

Now Lila was 23, with her birthday coming up in just ten days. We never had a problem with food shortage, because Mary would scour for food each night in her spectre form and always brought a full bucket home. Not needing to sleep had its benefits.

Lila didn't question why food wasn't an issue, but one of her favorite things to drink quickly became tea. With the backup generator that we had, and the gas stove with an oven combination, Lila was well fed. She was kept in a loving environment.

Mary also worked on the time machine by herself in these past 8 years. Radiation was not an issue because she wasn't a true human being. She only appeared human in front of Lila when she needed to take on the form of her father.

When Lila turned 20, Mary "fell" off a ladder, making it appear as an accident. This allowed Lila to help Mary, thinking she was helping her father who became impaired. She hadn't been able to help on the time machine, so we wanted her to feel needed.

Now, ten days before Lila would be turning 24, which was to my knowledge only because Lila and Mary could not keep track of time with anything but the sun's passing, I had decided to talk to Mary about using the time machine. I had to take control of Lila when she was asleep however, and only in her room.

" **Lila needs an environment with humans. Ones who are alive,** " I said.

"Well, everything is prepared for her departure," Mary replied while still posing as Jeremy. "Her suitcase has her father's old laptop which contains his old programs, videos he had recorded in his early days at Kadic, and other important data, a cell phone and charger, some clothes, and a nice jacket Jeremy must have forgotten to give her for her birthday one year. The miniaturization ray that I created was installed inside the time machine. It's up and running, ready to travel to the year 2005. But is Lila ready? What if she has anxiety attacks?"

" **That hasn't happened to her in years, Mary,** " I dismissed. " **She'll be fin-** "

Mary and I were interrupted by an explosion nearby. We heard screams and gasped.

" **Impossible… humans? After so long?** " I asked.

"They must have just found their way into the city," Mary reasoned. "It's been abandoned until now."

There was another explosion nearby and more screaming. I looked to Mary and ordered, " **Go. Get inside your container. I will create another spectre, and it will take on the form of Jeremy. You played his role well.** "

"Thank you," my creation replied with a nod. "If you need the pocket watch, it's upstairs in the kitchen drawer."

" **Understood. Now go.** "

Mary nodded and transformed into her white, smoke-like form. She flew down into the floor and to our father's lab, to enter the container she had created which was packed inside the suitcase stored within the time machine.

I went to the closet and grabbed Lila's usual clothes, changing into them for her. These consisted of a pink and white jacket with black pants and pink shoes. I closed the closet and ran out of Lila's room. Even without the other humans, Jeremy's company buildings were running out. Soon, my other half would be able to track us directly here.

It was now or never.

 **Inside Jeremy's lab**

 _There's one thing I need to do before I create the new spect_ _re_ _,_ I thought. I walked over to the time machine and placed my on it, admiring the fine work Mary had done.

 _Jeremy, your machine has been created to your exact design,_ I thought, as if he could hear me. _However, I am a virus. And as you had known, I could take control of anything when there were towers on Lyoko. When there was a Lyoko… Now, I need to add something to your time machine. Something that will protect your daughter on Lyoko, and her identity from you._

" **My power,** " I said to myself. I created a small burst of electrical energy, and poured it into the time machine.

 _My essence will disrupt the scanners from locating the time machine. It will not be picked up during any of Lila's virtualizations. The extra power I've given it will also help form Lila's Lyoko avatar and be concealed even in its compressed state. It will be electrical energy that'll never die out. It will always be there for Lila._

I frowned at the safety measures I had to install to prepare for the worst-case scenario, _And should it be taken from her, or used by her, it will only give one additional power the new wearer needs. Due to my new nature, it will not react to anyone who does not have a good heart or has bad intentions. It can never be of use to my past self… I just hope it does not acquire the time machine itself one day._

My new humanity had changed even my perspective of myself. While we had no biological body or gender before, and I'm still only an AI inhabiting a human body, I thought of myself as the Lyoko Warriors always mistakenly referred to me years ago.

My other half had never learned feelings, so it was an "it" in my mind, the same as my past self. I, however, had come to think of myself as a "he." While still not much compared to a human, my capacity for emotion had only grown since Jeremy's death.

With the preparations complete, and the expended portion of my power leaving me slightly drained, I cut my musing short and ran upstairs.

Once I reached the kitchen, I went to a drawer which contained Jeremy's pocket watch and fob, his cane placed on the handle of the drawer by Mary earlier today.

I created a lesser spectre with the remnants of my power who posed as Jeremy, really only a shell compared to Mary's complex structure and programming. He wore a dark red sweater, brown pants and a gray belt with black shoes. We heard screams coming afar again.

 _I still don't understand… why would you enter an abandoned city?_ I wondered before coming to the only possible conclusion. _Unless… of course. You never abandoned it; you remained hidden, underground. If I could bet, I'd say William Dunbar was leading you. He was the only one left of the Lyoko Warriors who survived and was still in France before he went into hiding. He must have thought they could hide in the buildings… but that was a mistake. Unfortunately, w_ _e'll never truly know what happened to Sissi Delmas. I doubt it's her._

The spectre took his cane and the pocket watch. He put it in his shirt and let the pocket watch hang out of the shirt pocket by the chain. His appearance made him look like our father, but in his late forties. He also had streaks of gray mixed in with his blonde hair. This was an exact copy to Mary's appearance beforehand. The spectre's alleged age is 49 years old; Mary and Lila celebrated Jeremy's birthday back in April.

 _It wasn't much of a celebration, but it still meant something to Lila. Even though her father wasn't really alive…_ I thought.

The spectre smiled at me and I suddenly felt faint. The false Jeremy caught me and asked,

"Master, are you alright?"

" **Yes… I've put too much strain on Lila's body and used a lot of power,** " I replied while trying to catch my breath. **"I'm going back to her room; wait out on the porch. If another attack is launched on Jeremy's buildings, see to it that you launch the time machine so Lila can return to the past. Even if it costs you your life, do you understand?** "

"I understand," the spectre replied.

I then reaffirmed the most important part of my instructions, " **Do not tell her the truth about** _ **when**_ **she is going. Come up with an excuse, understood?** "

The spectre nodded and proceeded to the porch of their home.

I returned to Lila's room, and for the final use of my power, I erased her memory of getting ready for bed and going to sleep. I gave control back to Lila, her mind now her own once again. However, I could still feel the fatigue… I had overused my power.

 _Lila, I must sleep and regain my power,_ I thought, wondering if she could hear me on a subconscious level. _My last gift to you is that you will remember the buildings that exploded tonight. Although, I will shift your memories slightly thinking that they were being destroyed week, after week, you will have had at least thought humans lived in the city for more than just today._

 _By changing this small part of your memories, I'll have changed your perception of your life and you will not remember how devastating it truly was. The spectre will play our father, and he will claim to be the cause of all of this. I know this may seem cruel. In truth… it was all me. My other half was the cause of this devastation,_ I confessed, lifting a weight off my mind even though I doubted she could really hear me.

 _I never calculated that I would grow attached to a human like this. Lila… goodbye, and good luck. May the Lyoko Warriors and your father of the past give you the life I never could._

 **Present Day**

 **April 14th, 2007**

 **POV Lila's**

A few hours passed before I opened my eyes again.

 _ **As I have said, child… please do not be angry with us,**_ Xana pleaded in my mind.

 _ **All of this was for you. Lila Belpois… you were created on January 20th, 2019. Your father made you a recognized citizen of France on September 20th, 2019. You were sent back in time, not just because of some mission, but because it was your second chance at life.**_

I look at Mary, completely shell shocked from all of this.

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Done!

Such a long chapter!

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Author's Note: I understand that when writing fanfiction certain continuity errors will arise. Please consider this chapter as the official canon prologue to Changing Destiny: Lila's Journey. "Jeremy" was originally 48 in the prologue but that was a mistake. I hoped everyone enjoyed this special chapter as well as easter eggs alluding to Evolution. Please also note: Lila is completely human. Her DNA was taken from, by Jeremy, who took DNA from himself and Aelita. Biologically she is their daughter.

We will return with "Contact," soon after a short hiatus! Stay tuned! Season 2 is so close to completion!

I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this chapter, and what really happened to Lila. Sorry about Lizzie though… :'( Introducing her as a "new" character unfortunately meant that something waa going to happen to her eventually. Please give a big thank you to **AeroJester203** who really did an amazing job editing this chapter. The chapter itself had been more than a year in the making. With editing taking a few weeks.

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Don't forget to review!

LyokoWarrior1994


	49. Contact

**Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is copyrighted by Moonscoop.**

* * *

I only own Lila. Mary is owned by **AeroJester203.**

This chapter was written by me. It was edited by **AwesomeFanFictionAuthor.**

* * *

 _Contac_ _t_

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 **Inside the lab**

 **POV Lila's**

I look at Mary, completely shell shocked from all of this. This is... it's so much to take in. I'm not sure how to process all of this and I start crying, my tears dropping onto the floor of the lab.

Mary turns to me and gives me a hug, a much-needed hug.

 _ **I hope you understand now…**_ Future Xana trails off.

 _I do… thank you. For everything. For what you and Mary have done for me,_ I tell him.

Mary lets go of me and wipes my tears away.

"Xana, I think it's time," Mary says suddenly. I look at her.

"Time?" I ask her. She nods.

 _ **She's right… it is time I go. I must fuse with Mary to help heal her. We must separate… for now**_ _ **,**_ Future Xana says.

"I understand. Please, go to her and help her recover," I say.

 _ **Very well,**_ Future Xana says.

My head pulls back and my mouth opens. Future Xana expels himself out of my body and I see his true form. A huge yellow spectre slowly exits my body. My body shakes a bit, almost as if I'm having a seizure, but it subsides as Future Xana fully expels himself from me.

Future Xana then flies into Mary as he fuses with her. I look at Mary as her body starts to shake violently. It does so for a few more seconds than it did with me, but then her body subsides and stops shaking.

I see Mary's skin, hair, and eyes, become much livelier, and she's starting to look much healthier altogether.

"That's a bit better," Mary says in relief.

"I'm glad. Is he still there, in your mind?" I ask.

Mary nods. "He is."

"Okay… so then I still have a few questions."

"I would imagine, go ahead," Mary nods.

"How… how old am I? Really?"

"15," Mary answers. "You'll be turning 16 this September. Although technically you're turning 26."

"I see… so I should really be in Yumi's classes then."

"You should be yes."

"So then... my anxiety started because I met classmates that were older than me?" I ask.

Mary nods. "That's correct yes."

"And eventually I caused myself to faint at a carnival because my anxiety grew over time and I didn't tell Odd?"

Mary nods.

"Yes, that's right. While it was the _only_ time you fainted, it wasn't until Future Xana erased your memory of Lizzie Jones that caused you to forget her and in return your anxiety went away completely. Admittedly it may not have been the best move… but Lizzie's death would have been hard for you to move on from. The anxiety would have stayed with you too," she explains.

"I think I understand that. I get now why you had to lie to me about the paradox causing my father's death way back when."

Mary nods, "Yes, I did a lot of that back then. And I lied about the paradox to protect you from the truth like Future Xana wanted me to. When you first told me about your memories coming back… I was concerned that you would find out the truth. I was concerned for your well-being. You were too young back then and I'm not sure how you would have handled everything."

"Okay so wait if I ultimately forgot about Lizzie and my anxiety spells were gone, then why did I have them when I first entered the timeline? What changed?"

"Future Xana did," Mary answers. I raise my eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"The moment we entered this timeline Future Xana woke up. He wasn't supposed to, and that along with your anxiety of meeting the students at Kadic, caused you to faint. He was weak admittedly, slowly but surely through the many times the you and the group used the return to the past program, his power continued to grow. It wasn't until on one Tuesday, that Future Xana's power was nearly back completely. He tells me you fainted before the return to the past was set off?"

"I did," I nod.

"That happened because of Future Xana's power affecting your body. Even after that first return trip was set off, you lost control of your powers on Lyoko because his power continued growing. It wasn't until at the end of the day, his power was fully complete. In truth the current timeline Xana sensed Future Xana's power," Mary explains.

"Now I get why the current Xana implied that he knew something about me," I say. I raise my eyebrow. "So then… the lotto ticket then?"

Mary chuckles nervously. "That well um… that was a matter of a predictive algorithm I have."

"Ah," I smile slightly, I then raise my eyebrow. "But wait there was the matter of me forgetting a memory that night Jeremy first told Ulrich and me about everything."

"That… was actually a side effect of time travel. Sorry, I had to play along… my memories are still in my data bank. Like I said… I had to lie to you a _lot_. Even faking my own memory loss," She says, rubbing her arm sheepishly.

"I see… I still can't believe I was born in Sector Five and that biologically I have both Jeremy and Aelita's DNA. So, if Future Xana was inside my mind this whole time… how did you know he was awake?"

"I sensed him. Even though your body was reacting negatively to his power, there was an up side. From day one you had access to Future Xana's mind and that's how you gained your visions. He allowed you access to his memories, which for the most part almost always came in the form visions," Mary explains.

"That makes sense… so most likely I won't have visions anymore from this day forward."

"No you won't," Mary says.

 _This really is so much to take in. And from what I understand… Future Xana was awake during everything that happened with Future Aelita and our Cameron. I hope he doesn't tell Mary about that, for her sake..._ I think _._

"Mary um… let me ask you something about yourself now. You look better healthier I mean. You were trapped inside the Scyphozoa's mind for so long... do you remember what happened to yourself?"

"I do. I had little access to Xana's memories while inside the Scyphozoa's mind. It's how I knew he was going to attempt to kill Jeremy. Unfortunately… I remember a lot about the physical and mental torture he put me through, trying to gain full access to my mind, but he was never successful. He most likely accessed a bit of information, I have no doubt about that," she replies.

"He did unfortunately… and I take it then you didn't know what was happening to all of us after you warned me about Xana planning Jeremy's death?" I ask, needing to confirm this.

Mary shakes her head.

"No I didn't, why do you ask?" she asks.

 _She doesn't know that I died and that Future Aelita died. Thank goodness…_ _that means Future Xana hasn't told her anything... yet,_ I think.

"No reason is all, just curious," I reply. She looks at me and raises her eyebrow. "I just wanted to make sure, with Future Xana helping your recovery… are you going to have any well, side effects from being trapped inside the Scyphozoa's mind for so long?" I ask out of concern.

"That's a good question," Mary replies. "Honestly… I'm not sure. Anything is _possible._ I feel fine right now, but I'm not really at 100%. Tomorrow could be a different story."

"I see... um, tomorrow then I'll bring over MB's laptop and my notes. This way you can start entering new combinations in it, to crack the passcode."

"Okay. And, I suppose I'll go into a sleep mode of sorts. It's true spectre's never sleep, but it'll be part of my recovery," she tells me.

"Right," I nod. "I should be going back to mine and Aelita's room. If Jim hasn't already found out I'm missing, I should get back before he does. Have a good night Mary."

"You too Lila," Mary smiles. I smile back slightly and start making my way to the freight elevator.

 **A few days later**

 **In** **side** **the lab**

Yumi, Ulrich, and I exit the freight elevator. We enter the lab. Jeremy is typing on the keyboard, we hear a blaring alert on the computer screen. He sighs in annoyance. Mary is sitting on the floor of the lab against the holosphere display case.

"You'll get it right one day Jeremy," Mary says, trying to reassure him as she's still working on entering more numbers for MB's laptop.

"Hey Einstein," Ulrich says.

"You look awfully down today. What's the problem?" Yumi asks. Ulrich, Yumi, and I walk up to the computer. I can see the exclamation point on the window.

"I've been spinning my wheel for days now on Aelita's antivirus and Franz Hopper's diary."

"Jeremy, you're one of the brightest people we know. You'll figure it out in time," I say.

"You think so?" Jeremy asks.

"You'll succeed, just give it time as Lila said," Mary tells him. She stops typing on MB's laptop and gets up.

"But Mary… even with the data we've collected from Sector Five, I haven't moved ahead one micron. What if… what if I'm just not good enough?" Jeremy asks.

"Uh oh okay," Ulrich says, putting his hands on his hips. "I think I know someone who needs to air out his neurons a little. And here's how to do it: tonight, Odd is screening his short film."

"Anyone seen any of it?" Jeremy asks.

"He wouldn't let us," Yumi replies.

"Do we know who's in it at least?" Jeremy asks.

"Yeah, we do. Odd, Sissi, and William," I reply.

"Interesting. Well… alright, I'll go," Jeremy says. He turns to Mary. "How are you doing with the passcode for MB's laptop?" he asks.

Mary picks up the laptop. She reveals she's got two new numbers, along with the numbers I only managed to decode. _04 3 4_

"Wow, that's great. You're halfway done," Jeremy says.

"I am, yes. With my predictive algorithm, I say within a few days time, possibly sooner, I'll have it cracked," Mary smiles.

"That's great. But how can you keep track of so much information?" Yumi asks.

"Simple. A spectre's memory like myself is pretty much data. I can store data like it's stored on a computer," she explains.

"Ah okay," Yumi nods.

 _I'm still hurt that Mary faked her own memory loss just to keep me from finding out about_ _everything_ _. But, it was for my protection I suppose…_ I think.

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside the gymnasium**

Jeremy, Aelita, myself, Odd, Ulrich, Sissi, and William are all sitting down in chairs, along with the rest of our teachers, students, and classmates. All of them are watching Odd's short film.

I have to admit, it's pretty good. William is the crazy ex-jealous boyfriend who locked Sissi upstairs in his room. Odd is Sissi's knight. In the film, he's currently getting Sissi and himself off the boy's floor, from outside on the roof. I'm not even sure how Sissi and Odd convinced Delmas they'd get down safely. But they manage to.

With William not far behind them, they start running away from the building, hand in hand. I smile at that, it seems Odd has really taken a liking to Sissi. But if I'm being honest, I haven't entirely been focusing on the movie. My thoughts keep going back to Mary and Future Xana.

 _I just can't believe everything I was shown. Or rather maybe… I don't want to. My dad died… and Future Xana protected me_ _all those years after his death, with Mary posing as my father._ _I mean… I don't blame them for doing that. Not even close._ _Future Xana_ _truly changed from the one we know now. Even he was devastated by our father's death._ _I guess that's what happens when a virus bent on world destruction gets close to his enemies, to consider them family. All in an attempt to actually kill us… and eventually becoming humanized._ _I still can't believe he split_ _him_ _self! Ugh, there's so many details of my past I wish I hadn't learned… and most of all I can't believe William was the leader of a group of people who went into one of my dad's company buildings. Why would they risk their lives to do that?_

 _Now I get why dad never wanted me involved in the war, because_ _it was Mary in reality, who_ _knew all too well what his other half was capable of. The war wasn't even a war, it was all over by that time._ _I'm not sure who Mary made that promise to… If I had to guess... it was probably to my father, to his memory._

 _And Lizzie... now that I remember you... I think I really liked you. I mean like... I had a crush on you. It makes sense why I was so upset over your death. To me... you were more than my best friend. You were everything to me. And Jones... of all of the names in the world why did you have the same last name as Cameron? I don't recall you having a brother... but I'm sure there are a lot of people with the last name Jones out there. Can't be more than a coincidence right?_

 _On that matter... did Future Aelita learn all of this? I'm not sure if she did... but if I died what happened to the Future Xana that was living within me? Did he try his best to keep me alive before Cameron killed me? And if he did... did he die with me? Or did he find a way to escape somehow? I suppose we'll never know..._ _I wonder if I should tell the others, any of this?_ I think.

A piercing scream in the film brings my head back up. William is now standing all high and might like over Sissi and Odd. Odd is holding Sissi's hand, and I notice whoever the camera person is, they're in the woods. William is holding a nerf gun.

" _Please my dear! We're meant to be together!"_ William exclaims.

" _I told you, Jeff, we're done! Just leave me and Odd alone!"_ Sissi exclaims back at him. William's character Jeff sighs at Odd. He aims the nerf gun at Odd's stomach.

" _You've gone too far this time bub,"_ 'Jeff' says. He pulls the trigger on the nerf gun. A nerf gun bullet flies out of the nerf gun. It "hits" Odd through the stomach, causing him to fall to the ground completely. 'Jeff' runs off in the opposite direction, and the camera person focuses on Odd as he starts "coughing."

" _Sissi my darling… I'm sorry. Before I go… could… I get one kiss?"_ Odd asks. Looking around the gymnasium, I can tell that there are some students that are actually into this film. I can even see Jim crying.

 _He must be really into these type of movies. What would this be classified as? Romantic? And what exactly is this nerf gun thing? Is it a brand?_ I think. Sissi "cries" and bends down at Odd.

She kisses him fully on the lips, as Odd then "dies" his "breathing" seems to have stopped. Sissi stops kissing him and looks at him. She's about to say something when the projector screen stops and the lights turn back on. All of us turn to Mr. Delmas, who seems infuriated? No, but something does seem off about to him.

"Sir – are you okay?" Jim asks, getting up to check on Mr. Delmas. Mr. Delmas looks at us, specifically at Jeremy and Aelita. Ignoring Jim, he walks over to us. Rather than going to talk to Odd, he goes over to Jeremy and Aelita. He starts speaking in a very strange language.

"Daddy, are you okay? It was just a movie honest," Sissi says, getting up from her chair.

"Alright everyone, let's call it a night. I think our principal is in a bit of a shock," Jim says. Some of the students start to murmur amongst themselves. Jim goes over to Mr. Delmas and helps to bring him to the nurse's office.

"Nice going Odd. I think you broke the principal," Ulrich chastises.

"I didn't mean to!" Odd exclaims. Some of the students chuckle lightly, as they don't think it's serious.

"I'm sure he'll be okay Sissi," William says, trying to reassure her.

"I… I hope so…" Sissi trails off and sits back in her chair. Yumi turns to us.

"Do… do you think it's Xana?" she asks, whispering it so William doesn't overhear her.

 **Inside Jeremy's room**

Odd is on Jeremy's bed, I'm sitting on it too. Ulrich, Aelita, Yumi, and Sissi watch Jeremy as he is typing on his keyboard. He's launching a super scan, to see if it can locate any activated towers. So far, it hasn't.

"Nope. No activated tower. Xana's got nothing to do with it," he answers. Yumi opens the door.

"Sissi, Miss Yolanda said your father is fine. He received an electric shock, but there's nothing to worry about," she informs.

"Thank goodness," Sissi sighs. She sits down on Jeremy's bed.

"I was really worried about that kissing scene Odd. I knew we shouldn't have put it in."

"Sissi, it was just the electric shock. Our kissing had nothing to do with your father's breakdown. And besides, how do you think he would react if we were to ever date?" Odd asks.

"I'd say he'd kick you out of the academy," Ulrich jokes.

"Haha very funny," Odd says sarcastically, he rolls his eyes. Sissi, Ulrich, Aelita, Yumi, and Jeremy laugh at that. I however don't, because I'm still concerned about what I've learned.

"You okay Lila?" Yumi asks.

"Yeah, just a lot on my mind. Plus with Mary holding it up in the lab, it's just a lot of change I need to take in," I reply.

"You know Lila I could talk with Principal Delmas when he's better and ask him to room in with Sissi," Aelita offers.

I shake my head.

"No, no. That's okay. I'd never ask you to do that Aelita. I'll figure something out."

"Okay if you're sure," Aelita says. I nod.

"I am."

"Anyways, I better get going. My parents are going to get worried if I stay any longer. Night," Yumi says.

"Night." we call back to her.

 **The next day**

 **Early in the morning**

I wake up to the sound of Aelita's cell phone ringing. Looking down at my desk I see it's Jeremy's calling and Aelita wakes up too. She rubs her eyes and grabs the phone from the desk. She clicks the answer button.

"Yes Jeremy?" she asks. There's a pause. "Okay. We'll be there." She ends the call and puts her phone back on the desk.

"He needs us to meet in the lab," Aelita informs.

"Right. I figured as much," I say.

 **Afterwards**

 **Ins** **ide the lab**

Jeremy finishes explaining the situation, my eyes widen, and I look over to Mary. She nods, and I look back at Jeremy.

"Are you sure? A message written in code?" I ask.

"And it was written by Delmas?" Ulrich asks.

"Uh huh," Jeremy replies. He types away at the keyboard. "I ran the supercomputer all night to translate it."

"And…?" Sissi asks. Jeremy finishes typing. A small window pops up. It shows the coded message, which is now translated by the supercomputer.

"And look at what it turned up," Jeremy says. The message is brought into a new window. It's a bit garbled at first but…

" _I want to – I want to get in contact with you. I can help you,_ _"_ A voice speaks.

"I can help you?" Yumi asks.

"It must be a trap by Xana. He must have found a way to possess Delmas without activating a tower," Ulrich surmises.

"That's impossible Ulrich," Mary tells him. "Xana has always attacked the real world by using towers."

"And besides Ulrich, Delmas would have tried to get Lila and me out to Lyoko. So that the Scyphozoa can steal my memory and take whatever it's looking for within Lila." She walks over to Jeremy and goes to his left side.

 _I'm not so sure the Scyphozoa will go after me now, especially since it was probably trying to get Fu_ _ture Xana all along..._ I think.

"Aelita's right. If you ask me, someone or something wants to contact us through Delmas. But it's not Xana," Jeremy says.

"Well then, who is it?" Odd asks. Jeremy gets off his chair.

"No idea, to find that out we'll have to talk to Delmas again," Jeremy answers.

"Well, I think it should be easy to bring my father here. I'll just take him out for some fresh air, and then tell Yolanda I lost track of time. Who wants to join me?" Sissi asks.

"I will, I'm your man Sissi. I mean – you know what I mean," Odd jokes.

"I'll go too," Yumi offers.

"I better take a look around Lyoko and make sure Xana isn't setting up a trap for us. If he is, we'd better be prepared," Ulrich says.

"I'll go with you," Aelita offers.

"With the Scyphozoa around? It's too risky," Jeremy says.

"Jeremy, stop worrying about me. Hm?" Aelita asks.

Jeremy still seems a bit concerned.

"Jeremy, Mary and I can go too. I'm sure Mary can take a break with the laptop. Right?" I ask, looking at it on the floor by the holosphere display case.

"Yes. With the four of us there, it'll be fine," Mary says, trying to reassure him.

"Okay…" Jeremy trails off.

 **Inside the scanner room**

Mary has gone inside my cell phone, which is in my pants pocket. I step into the middle scanner. Ulrich takes the left scanner, and Aelita takes the right scanner.

" _Transfer: Ulrich, Transfer: Lila, Transfer: Aelita,"_ Jeremy starts.

The scanners doors close. I close my eyes. The scanner starts to spin. It starts to hum.

" _Scanner: Ulrich, Scanner: Lila, Scanner: Aelita."_ The scanner continues to spin and continues humming.

" _Virtualization!"_

A bright light and gust of wind engulf me. My time machine necklace lifts off slightly from my neck, and the wind also billows my hair. I'm virtualized to Lyoko with Mary after such a long time.

 **Lyoko's Forest Sector**

Opening my eyes, I see Ulrich, Aelita, and I fall to the ground. Ulrich's Overbike and my broomstick are materialized, just as we land safely.

"Great timing, nice work Jeremy," Ulrich compliments.

" _Thanks. Okay, make it fast. It's just a reconnaissance mission."_

"Understood. Are you all set Mary?" I ask her.

 _ **Yes. I think I have some energy to help you, should the need arise**_ _ **,**_ Mary tells me.

"Right, sounds good," I say. Ulrich and Aelita get onto the Overbike, I get onto my broomstick. Kicking the broomstick into the air, I have it above the ground slightly. Revving up his Overbike, Ulrich speeds away.

"Hey hold up!" I exclaim. Kicking my broomstick into the air, I urge my broomstick to go as fast as it can and it does. It soon catches up to Ulrich, and I fly the broomstick in a normal speed.

"Good job catching up. Say, Mary, do you think you can come up with a faster vehicle for Lila?" Ulrich asks her.

 _ **Tell him it would depend on many factors. I'm not sure what sort of vehicle you would have, besides this broomstick honestly**_ _ **,**_ Mary says.

"She's not sure, it depends on certain factors," I relay.

"Ah," Ulrich nods. Ulrich, Aelita, and I continue driving as we soon see something weird…

" _Ulrich, Aelita, Lila. Everything okay with you guys?"_

"To tell you the truth, I have no idea," Ulrich replies, shaking his head.

"Has the super scan picked up an activated tower by any chance?" I ask.

" _No. Still nothing. Why?"_

"Well hang on," Aelita replies. "I'll send you a visual." Aelita sends the visual of the tower we're seeing. A tower with a white aura… a few seconds later Jeremy asks:

" _What the heck is this white tower supposed to mean?!"_

"I was about to ask you the same thing," Ulrich says.

 _Mary… any idea what this white tower is supposed to be?_ I ask her.

 _ **Yes. This is the first time Franz Hopper is trying to get in**_ _ **c**_ _ **ontact with the Lyoko**_ _ **Warriors. We need to protect it, at all costs!**_ Mary informs.

I nod.

"Guys, Mary is telling me this white tower is important! Whatever happens, we need to protect it!" I exclaim.

"What? Why?" Ulrich asks.

"We just do! Let's hurry up!" I reply. Flying our vehicles to the white tower, we get off them. Ulrich takes out his katana, and I take my bow out.

Two Megatanks roll down our way.

"Megatanks! Ugh! We haven't seen them in a while!" I exclaim. Taking two arrows, I put them on my bow.

"Aelita stay behind us," Ulrich says. The Megatanks open as they start charging their laser waves. I pull my drawstring back. I focus my arrows on one of the Megatanks. I release the arrows, and they fly at the Megatank.

The Megatank closes, the arrows hit the shells. It's friend releases its laser wave. The laser wave is now flat and is spreading much further than I remember. Ulrich, Aelita, and I start running as we're unable to guard the tower in time. I put my bow back on its hook.

The white tower takes a hit from the Megatank, and the other Megatank focuses on me now. It opens, and I quickly grab my hunter's knife from its sleeve. Charging it with yellow electricity, my amulet glows and engulfs my hunter's knife with yellow electricity. The Megatank unleashes its laser wave and I hold my ground. Ulrich and Aelita are behind me.

"Triplicate!" Ulrich exclaims. Ulrich forms two clones as he orders them to deal with the Megatank. Using Super Sprint, they run at the other Megatank.

I push the laser wave with my hunter's knife, as I start to gain the upper ground. Channeling more electricity into the hunter's knife, the laser wave is pushed back to the Megatank. The Megatank immediately closes its shell, but the laser pushes it back and makes it roll off the ground and into the digital sea. A blue spiraling light of energy is released. It then evaporates.

" _Nice work! But I've got bad news… Xana's activated a tower! Ice Sector!"_ Jeremy informs.

"Great! What do we do?" Ulrich asks. His clones continue to distract the Megatank. Without hesitation, Aelita starts running toward my broomstick. Seeing her doing that, I follow her. Getting ahead of her, I put my hunter's knife back into its sleeve and I get on the broomstick. Aelita gets on with me.

Kicking the broomstick into the air, we take off and looking down the Megatank opens. Ulrich's clones take advantage of this as they take out their katana blades. They stab the Megatank in the eye of Xana, and super sprints out of the way. They back off and the Krab explodes. They cover themselves from the exploded pieces. Those pieces disappear and the real Ulrich looks at me.

"Go, we'll help guard the tower!" Ulrich says.

"Okay!" I say.

 _Broomstick, mach speed!_ I let my broomstick take control and it flies at mach speed toward the way tower. This causes Aelita to yelp a little and she wraps her arms around my waist. Reaching the way tower, we fly into its "doorway."

 **Lyoko's** **Ice Sector**

Finally reaching the Ice Sector, we fly out of the way tower.

"That's such a weird experience," I shudder.

"I know what you mean," Aelita says. "Hey Jeremy, we've arrived in the Ice Sector. Do you have the tower's exact location?" she asks. Looking up,

" _Due north! Please be careful_ _._ _Delmas is here now... He's going to be deciphering the message he left for us. Sissi and Yumi are dealing with a possessed nurse, and if you need help I'll send Odd,"_ Jeremy informs.

"Sounds like a plan," I say and continue flying the broomstick toward the direction of the tower.

 **Afterwards**

Finally seeing the tower in sight. I fly the broomstick towards it. It's at least a good number of yards away.

" _Aelita! Lila! Watch out!"_ Jeremy warns. A laser comes out of nowhere. It hits the broomstick, causing it to fall. Aelita and I scream on our way down, as we were high up. Crashing onto the ice, the broomstick breaks. It dematerializes into pixels. Aelita and I slide against the ice, as we get further away from where the broomstick was.

We finally stop sliding and try to get up, but we see one Krab heading towards us from the left side. The Krab gets closer, so Aelita and I get up and using the right side we try to get away from the Krab that's about to reach us. However, on our right side another Krab gets in our way, The two Krabs block us off.

Looking back, we start to back away but then a third Krab gets behind us. The three Krabs move closer to us, as we're now completely blocked in by them. The Krabs growl, and then we hear the Scyphozoa's drone, as the Krabs make room for it to enter.

Aelita and I back away in fear, but the Krab behind us gives us a warning shot with its laser. The Scyphozoa moves in on Aelita first, raising it's two front tentacles when… several Laser Arrows and three spades are launched. The Laser Arrows hit the Scyphozoa, and the spades cut the Scyphozoa's tentacles off. It screeches in pain. Looking up, we smile in relief as we see Odd is on his Overboard and Sissi on her Overbike. They're flying to us.

"Odd! Sissi!" Aelita exclaims.

"Thank goodness!" I exclaim.

 _ **They made it just in time! If I only I had more energy, perhaps I could have helped more, in some way. It seems the last time we fused on Lyoko consumed more energy than I initially thought...**_ Mary trails off.

 _It's okay Mary. It's not your fault,_ I think.

Cocking his paw, Odd fires off more Laser Arrows. Sissi takes her baton off its holder. She presses the button and it extends twice its size. She swings it in a vertical position. A gush of wind is released and flies right at the Krab. The Krab is tossed over on its head, it's legs are moving. It can't get up.

"Run you two!" Sissi exclaims.

"We'll take it from here!" Odd exclaims.

Nodding, Aelita and I start running to the tower. Taking my bow off its hook, I make sure I ready myself so that if there are more monsters, I can defend Aelita all the way to the activated tower. Hearing firing coming our way, Odd and Sissi drive over to us.

"Get on," Odd says to Aelita.

"Come on Lila," Sissi says. I put my bow back on its hook. Nodding the two of us get onto our friend's vehicles. I get on with Sissi's Overbike. She revs it up, and all of us take off. Holding onto Sissi's shoulders we fly higher in the air. We look to see one more Krab from before. Seems it managed to get up and a new Krab is following us, while they shoot lasers at us. Taking my bow off its hook, I grab an arrow from my quiver. Putting the arrow on the bow, I pull the drawstring back and I try to focus it on the new Krab. Sissi drives her Overbike in the air. I focus it just enough and release the arrow.

The arrow flies, and to the new Krab. It hits the target eye of Xana. The Krab wobbles its legs. It then explodes, causing the Krab next to it to fall down. Putting my bow back on its hook, we finally touch down on the ground. Getting off Odd and Sissi's vehicles, they fly back to the Krab. Looking at them, Odd is ahead of Sissi.

He and his Overboard are shot by the Krab, and devirtualizes in a cloud of pixels. Sissi and her Overbike are next, she's not able to react in time. Sissi is pushed off her Overbike and devirtualizes. Her Overbike dematerializes just as Odd's vehicle did. The remaining Krab tries to focus on Aelita and me but misses us thankfully. There's no time to react to Odd and Sissi's devirtualization.

Nodding to Aelita, she walks up to the tower and slowly phases into the tower's "doorway."

Taking my bow off its hook, I put another arrow on it. Channeling electricity into it, my amulet glows, letting me know it's ready. My arrow is engulfed with yellow electricity. Pulling the drawstring back I steady my aim. The Krab fires several lasers at me. With its target eye in view, I release the electrically charged arrow. It flies to the Krab and hits the Krab's target eye, shocking it and the lasers hit me at the same time.

Being pushed off my feet, I'm devirtualized in a cloud of pixels. Just as I do, I see the tower's red aura to turn to blue and hear the Krab exploding into pieces.

 **Later that day**

 **Inside Jeremy's room**

Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, Sissi, Aelita, and I are all back in Jeremy's room. Odd and Ulrich are sitting on the ground. Aelita and I are sitting on Jeremy's bed, while Yumi is standing. Sissi is sitting on the side desk Jeremy has.

Mary is back in the lab with Jeremy. Even though we were still fused together when we were in the scanner, she easily expelled herself out of me. She helped Sissi bring Delmas back to the Hospital, and after that, she went back to working on MB's laptop. At least I know now she can be devirtualized with me. With Future Xana helping her recover, he couldn't lend any extra power to me but I'm not sure he can do that while inside Mary too. It's a good thing she's a spectre. She doesn't need to eat, or sleep a lot, or do anything us humans have to do. She can work on MB's laptop 24/7 if she really wanted to.

Looking at the door, it finally swings open. Jeremy closes it and is holding a CD case.

"Well… how did it go?" Yumi asks.

"The supercomputer deciphered all of the lines Delmas spoke while he was spellbound," Jeremy replies.

"That's great," I nod.

"So what did you learn?" Sissi asks.

"Tons of interesting stuff! And a whole lot of elements that are going to help me find the antivirus for Aelita," Jeremy says.

"And… do you know who this mysterious entity, who wants to get into contact with us is?" Ulrich asks.

"Well… take a look," Jeremy replies. He walks up to his computer and presses a button. His disk player pops out. He opens the CD case and he puts the CD in the disk player.

"I'm warning you. This is completely… crazy," Jeremy says. He presses the button again, and the disk player closes with the CD inside of it. He starts typing on his keyboard, and the computer turns on. The CD starts playing the message, as all of us go to him. The message is still garbled, but while typing he starts making it clearer.

" _I can help you. I want to enter into contact with you now,"_ the voice says.

"Wow! I can't believe it!" Odd exclaims.

" _I am Franz Hopper. I am Franz Hopper."_

My eyes widen.

"I am Franz Hopper?" Aelita asks, shocked.

 _Grandpa Schaeffer… so this is what you sound like…_ I trail off.

* * *

Author's Note: Yes Lila is bisexual. This will be confirmed in season 3. If you have rude comments about this please keep them to yourself. My editors and I work hard on this fanfiction. Please do not shame my OC because of her sexuality. Please remember this is a work of _fiction._

Lila's Journey will be updated weekly until season 2 is complete! Not long now!

* * *

Don't forget to review!

LyokoWarrior1994


	50. Revelations

Disclaimer: **Code Lyoko is copyrighted by Moonscoop.**

* * *

This chapter was written by me. It was edited by **AwesomeFanFictionAuthor.**

* * *

I only own Lila. Mary is owned by **AeroJester203.**

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Author's Note: Please do not skip to the end. You have been warned.

 _I hope you enjoy the chapter!_

* * *

 _Revelations_

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 **Sector Five**

 **On the bridge**

 **POV Lila's**

Using my electrically charged hunter's knife, I block the incoming lasers. Three flying Mantas are firing lasers at us. Yumi blocks the incoming lasers with her Tessen Fans. Ulrich does the same with his katana. Odd is dodging the lasers since he doesn't have any defense weapons. Sissi is using her baton, twirling it to cause wind so that the wind reflects the incoming lasers at her.

Yumi opens her Tessen Fan and throws it at a flying Manta that starts flying towards us. The Tessen Fan cuts through the flying Manta, and a yellow light emanates from within. However the flying Manta is still kicking. Yumi's Tessen Fan returns to her, and she catches it. Looking to my right, I see the flying Manta that's firing at Ulrich. It flies pass us.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Yumi says. She turns to Aelita, who is still working on the interface terminal.

"Are you almost done, Aelita?" she asks.

"Yes, almost," Aelita replies.

The flying Manta makes a U-turn and dives back toward us, causing most of us to scatter. Ulrich, however, stands his ground and takes the opportunity to slash the flying Manta from below as it flies past. Then Odd jumps up and fires a Laser Arrow at it's eye of Xana, finishing it off.

Just as that threat passes, another shows up. Or, actually, it never really left. That flying Manta that Yumi had been fighting shoots Ulrich in the leg, temporarily paralyzing him. But I'm ready. I disperse my powers and put my hunter's knife in its sleeve. I take my bow off its hook in one swift motion. I put an arrow onto the bow, then aim and pull the drawstring back. I let the arrow fly. The arrow flies at the flying Manta, and just as it flies down the arrow hits the target eye. No more flying Mantas.

But then another laser comes out from nowhere and hits Sissi in her leg, causing her to lose her baton. Her leg sparks and she bends down.

 _"Watch out! You've got Xana Bots heading your way!"_ Jeremy informs.

Looking up by the dome area, we see at least four of them heading our way.

 _Ugh, I hate how Xana can send his Bots in this area_ … I think. Aelita continues using the interface terminal.

"Done. The controls are all yours, Jeremy," she says.

 _"Great! Here comes your vehicles!"_

Our vehicles materialize. Ulrich and Sissi get onto their Overbikes, they're the first ones to take off. Odd jumps onto his Overboard, and takes off too. Looking at my own vehicle, I realize how much I miss-

 _"The tunnel is opening… now!"_

Though the broomstick was outdated, so Jeremy made me my own Overboard. It's black, with silver stripes on it. Getting on it, I tilt it with my weight urging it to go faster and I take off.

Looking back, I see Yumi and Aelita are having a bit of trouble getting onto Yumi's Overwing, with the lasers interrupting them. When they finally do, Yumi drives her Overwing, and I tilt my weight more, urging my Overboard to speed up.

 **Afterwards**

 **Back inside the lab**

Jeremy types away on the keyboard, as a window opened on the computer shows encryption locks. The encryption locks blink, seemingly to confirm something. Mary is with us in the lab too.

"So… anything good?" Aelita asks.

"No… I wouldn't call it good," Jeremy replies.

"Huh?" Aelita and I ask.

"More like amazing!" Jeremy exclaims. Aelita gasps in surprise, and I smile.

"With this, I bet I can crack the code of Franz Hopper's diary," Jeremy explains.

"Way cool," Ulrich says.

"The only problem is, I'm going to need a supercomputer to process such a large amount of data. I'll have to activate a tower or two," Jeremy says.

"Uh, that didn't go so well last time. Xana hates it when we play with his toys," Yumi says.

"I know, but we don't have a choice," Jeremy says. Odd makes a time out sign with his hands.

"Okay, can we go and eat now? It's mash potatoes today!" he exclaims happily, putting his hands together.

"It is? Awesome!" Sissi exclaims.

"You can have mine Odd, I better stay here and prepare for the mission. That way, you can set out right after lunch," Jeremy says.

"Yeah!" Odd exclaims.

"Say, Mary, how are things going with breaking the passcode on MB's laptop?" I ask.

"Still in progress. I'm running a list of the remaining possible combinations of numbers now, but nothing seems to be right. I believe the numbers that we've entered so far are accepted as place holders and don't actually belong in the spot we've entered them in. I'm going to try and keep running my predictive algorithm, to find a way to enter the numbers in a new order. If all works well, I think I should have it completed by sometime tonight," Mary replies.

"Great," I say. All of us head to the freight elevator, as we make our way to the cafeteria.

 **Inside the cafeteria**

Odd is ahead of us in the line, we've all taken our trays and have mash potatoes on them. There was a side dish for fish but I'm not really that into meat.

"Jeremy said I can take his portion, Rosa," Odd mentions. Using the ladle, Rosa takes the mash potatoes from her oven tray and puts the new helping onto Odd's portion.

"Yeah!" Odd exclaims happily.

"With everything you put away, I just don't understand how you can be so scrawny," Rosa says.

"I'm not scrawny – I'm svelte," Odd defends, then smiles at Rosa, and takes his tray. We head to our usual table. Aelita takes the second seat on the right, and I take the first seat. Odd lets Sissi take the first chair, Ulrich takes the chair at the end of the table, and Odd sits down in the middle chair, which is between Sissi and Ulrich. Taking his spoon, Odd starts eating his mash potatoes. He turns to Ulrich, and swallows his mash potatoes.

"So, come on Ulrich, stop holding out on us. What's your overall average?" he asks, after swallowing.

"73 for the term," Ulrich replies.

"Really? I got 75," Odd says, he takes another spoon full of mash potatoes and eats it. "I beat you," he says while eating.

"Odd, ugh, please, table manners," I say. He smiles at me and I take a sip of my tea.

"And Odd, you only got that 75 because you made some points up in art class. Sissi, what about you?" Ulrich asks. I put my cup of tea down on the table.

"71.8," Sissi replies. "If it weren't for you Lila, Aelita, and Jeremy, my grades wouldn't be as good as they are now. So, Aelita – Lila, what are your overall grade point averages?" she asks.

"95.2," Aelita answers.

"83.9," I reply.

"Huh?" Ulrich, Odd, and Sissi asks, eyes widening.

"Well… it's only because of Math," Aelita explains.

"And I only have that average because of Math and Science," I explain. Odd starts eating again.

"Still, Aelita, Lila, you two must have gotten good grades in all of your other classes, considering the both of you aren't really hu-" Ulrich starts to say, as he is about to cut his fish with a knife and fork. He stops, catching himself.

"Uh…" Odd trails off. Ulrich lifts his finger.

"Uh… I mean..." he trails off to. Aelita nods; understanding him.

"Don't worry, I know very well I'm not really human," Aelita says.

"And it's cool Ulrich, apology accepted," I add.

 _I wish I could tell Aelita she's truly human… and I wish I can tell the others that I now know I'm actually human. I'm not even sure where I would begin though…_ I think.

"Still, sometimes I get the strange feeling, as if I've already lived here. Weird huh?" Aelita asks. Odd stops eating his mash potatoes, and when he takes the spoon out of his mouth, he accidentally flicks some on his face.

"Ah that's just the magical Odd effect. You know, you've seen me once, and you feel like you've known me forever," Odd jokes.

"Hey "Magic Odd Effect" you know you've got some mash potatoes right on your face?" Ulrich asks. Odd drops his spoon, looking at the mash potatoes on his face. Aelita, Sissi, and I can't help but laugh at him.

 **Afterwards**

 **Outside**

Me, Aelita, Odd, Sissi, and Ulrich are walking outside the cafeteria. Sissi's phone starts going off. She pulls it out and checks her phone.

"Oh… it's my father. I should get going to meet him," she says.

"How is your father doing?" I ask.

"He's alright…" Sissi replies. "He just doesn't remember going into shock. I hate having to lie to him… but it's the only way to keep him safe. Anyways, he wants me to meet him at his office. I've been doing some study sessions with him, and now I guess he wants me to keep my grades up. Being a good student is really… lame."

"I know, but better to be a good student rather than someone who could possibly flunk out," I say.

"I guess… anyways I'll see you guys when you need me. Send an SOS if Xana attacks," Sissi says.

"We will," Aelita nods. Sissi runs off to her father's office. I look at Odd.

"So, how exactly did you get off the hook with kissing Sissi on the big screen?" I ask.

"I didn't he gave me six hours of detention for kissing Sissi," Odd replies..

The three of us can't help but laugh a little.

Shortly after we decide to go to the bench area. Getting there, Aelita, and I sit on the bench. We look at the students who are taking the time to relax. I see a girl reading, she's standing next to an arch. I've seen her around before on campus lately and in some of our classes. I believe she's a new transfer student and is also a day student since I haven't seen her in the dorm at all. I know her name is Kayori Avalon because of roll call, and she's pretty shy as I haven't heard her talk in the classes we share together.

She's caucasian, about five feet and two inches tall and has green eyes. She has brown hair that goes down to her shoulder blades. She wears a dark blue jacket, and a blood red tube top featuring a wolf design. She's also wearing a dark blue short skirt along with black ankle length socks.

I notice the chains she's wearing around her neck, they're very peculiar as she's hidden what they're holding underneath her shirt. I see that she's wearing black zip up boots – and she catches me looking at her. I blush slightly.

 _She seems really nice,_ I think.

As I'm looking at her, I notice she's blushing too. She looks back down at the book she was reading, trying to hide her blush. I turn my focus back to my friends. They haven't noticed anything, Aelita and Odd were talking the whole time. Looking at Ulrich, he seems to be spacing out. But then – his phone starts ringing. Taking it out, he flips the phone open and presses the talk button. He puts the phone to his ear, and we look at him.

"Yeah, Jeremy?" Ulrich asks. There's a short pause. "Huh? Okay, we're on our way," he says, hanging up. He closes his phone and puts it in his pocket.

"Activated tower, you call Sissi. I'll call Yumi," Ulrich says to me.

"Right," I nod. Taking out my cell phone, I dial Sissi's number on speed dial, and put my phone to my ear. The phone rings a few times, and I speak.

"Sissi, I-" I start to say but then hear:

 _"This is Sissi. I can't come to the phone now. You know what to do."_

The phone beeps.

"Sissi, SOS. Meet us you know where," I say. Pressing the end button on my phone, I look at it.

"Lila?" Odd asks.

"I… I think something's wrong. Can you go and get her from Delmas's office?" I ask. Odd, Aelita, and now Ulrich look at me with concern. Ulrich ends his phone call with Yumi.

"Yeah, I'll go and get her. You think Xana is up to something?" Odd asks.

"Not sure. Just a bad feeling," I reply.

"Okay, I'm off!" Odd exclaims. He starts running off to Delmas's office.

"Let's go," Ulrich says. Aelita and I nod. I put my phone into my pants pocket and we take off.

 **Inside the lab**

The freight elevator's doors open. Yumi is with us now. Mary is working on MB's laptop in the corner.

"Where are Odd and Sissi?" Jeremy asks.

"I called Sissi but she wasn't picking up, so I sent her a voicemail. She's supposed to be at Delmas's office, studying, but we still haven't heard back from her. So, Odd is looking for her," I reply. I look at the monitors, Franz Hopper's encrypted notes are blinking.

"I hope they won't be much longer," Jeremy says. "Not only do we have to decode Franz Hopper's notes, but now we have to deactivate the tower as well."

"Okay, let's go," Yumi says.

"Mary, how's everything going with the laptop? Any progress?" I ask her.

"Some, yes. The order I'm entering the numbers in now seems to be acceptable. I have no doubt it'll be completed by later tonight," Mary replies.

"Fantastic," Ulrich comments.

Ulrich, Aelita, Yumi, and I start walking back to the freight elevator. Getting inside it, Ulrich presses the red button to go down. Aelita crosses her arms. She waves goodbye at Jeremy and Mary, as the freight elevator's doors close.

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside the scanner room**

Ulrich, Aelita, Yumi, and I are all standing in the middle of the room.

 _"They're not answering… I guess Odd is having a hard time with Delmas. Forget them for now, they'll meet you later,"_ Jeremy informs. _"Ulrich, I'm going to virtualize the girls first. You'll need to go last."_

"Okay," Ulrich says. Aelita takes the right scanner, I take the middle scanner, and Yumi takes the left scanner. We step into the scanners. The scanners' doors close. I close my eyes and Jeremy starts the process.

 **Lyoko's Mountain Sector**

Opening my eyes, I see Yumi, Aelita, and I falling. We land safely in the mountain sector. We leave room between us, so that Ulrich, can land safely.

 _It's been a while since we've been here,_ I think.

Looking up, we see three bodies virtualizing. Ulrich, Sissi, and Odd land safely between us.

 _"Sissi?"_ Jeremy asks, unsure.

"Everything's okay Jeremy. I'm on Lyoko," Sissi replies.

 _"There was a bug during the transfer,"_ Jeremy informs. _"Mary can't identify it either."_

"A bug? What sort of bug?" I ask.

 _"I'm still looking over it now Lila,"_ Mary replies.

 _"And we have a new problem. The tower has just deactivated itself,"_ Jeremy adds.

"Are you sure?" Ulrich asks.

 _"Yeah… the super scan shows all clear. It's as if Xana has called off its attack,"_ Jeremy answers.

"That's good though, isn't it Einstein?" Odd asks. Odd turns to Sissi.

"Right Sissi?" he asks.

"Right," Sissi replies, turning away from Odd.

"What's up with her? Is she sulking or something?" Ulrich asks.

"Not sure," Odd shrugs. "She's been like that the whole way here."

"Maybe her studying didn't go well?" Aelita asks unsure.

 _"Here come your rides. Remember, we have a diary to decode,"_ Jeremy says.

All of us get onto our vehicles. Aelita puts her hands on Yumi shoulders, getting onto her Overwing. Odd gets onto his Overboard, and Sissi and Ulrich get onto their respective Overbikes.

 _"I've chosen the tower at 72 degrees south and fifty-five degrees west,"_ Jeremy informs, and we fly off towards it.

"There it is," Yumi points out to it. The tower is enclosed, leaving a small access point for us to go through. If we want to fly over and into it, we can too. Touching down on the ground, we bring our vehicles to a stop and hop off.

Aelita runs up to the tower, and she slowly walks into it, phasing into the tower's "doorway."

 _"I'm activating the tower… now,"_ Jeremy informs. We see the tower changing from its blue aura to a green aura.

 _"Yeah it's working!"_ Jeremy exclaims. _"Whenever Xana leaves us in peace, everything is cool."_

I have my hand in my sleeve, ready to grab my hunter's knife, just in case any monsters show up. The area starts getting a bit foggy for some reason, and we hear growling coming from afar.

 _"Uh oh, I spoke too soon. Watch out. Xana's monsters are heading your way,"_ Jeremy informs. Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, and I walk up a little to get at least a better look.

"Where from? We can't see anything," Yumi comments.

"Yeah… everything's so foggy," Odd says.

"There!" I point out, and I take my hunter's knife out of its sleeve. Three Tarantulas are heading our way.

"Wow, Xana's pulled out the big guns," Ulrich comments, and unsheathes his Katana blade. Odd cocks his paw, readying his Laser Arrows. Taking out her fans, Yumi does a twirl and readies her fans in a defensive position. Odd falls down suddenly, devirtualized by three… spades?!

Turning behind us, we see a dark blue light coming from Sissi's bracer. She summons three spades again. She launches them at Yumi, who has no time to react. She devirtualizes too, as Ulrich and I stand back to back.

 _"Lila, what happened?!"_ Mary exclaims.

"Mary – Jeremy! Sissi's been possessed!" I inform.

 _"What?!"_ Jeremy and Mary exclaim.

Sissi starts walking, a dark blue light flares from her bracer and she summons her spades once again. She launches them. Charging my hunter's knife with electricity, my lightning bolt amulet glows letting me know I'm good to go. My hunter's knife is then engulfed with electricity. I use my electrically charged hunter's knife to block the spades, as Sissi continues to push Ulrich and I back.

"If I can just get a chance to use my super sprint!" Ulrich exclaims, as Tarantulas start firing at him. He quickly takes his katana blade and reflects the lasers one by one.

"Jeremy, we're trapped! We can't reach our vehicles!" I exclaim.

 _"I'm on it! I'll send you your broomstick!"_ Jeremy exclaims.

Looking to the side of the mountain pass, my broomstick is materialized. Ulrich and I nod. I disperse my electricity. We take our weapons, sheathe them into their proper places and run. We keep running and dodging, but we finally jump off the side and land on the broomstick.

I kick my broomstick into the air and it flies us over the mountain pass. Ulrich takes out his katana blade and blocks the incoming spade attacks.

"I just can't believe this… how would Xana have done this? It can't happen again!" I exclaim.

 _"I can, it's not the real Sissi,"_ Jeremy explains. I sigh internally, relieved to hear that. But also concerned for the real Sissi's well-being.

 _"It's one of Xana's creatures. A polymorphing spectre,"_ Jeremy explains.

 _"But… where's the real Sissi then?"_ Odd asks.

 _"Most likely, Xana has hidden her somewhere. The safest course of action would be to look around the Hermitage. He's used that area before to try and harm you from what Lila told me. You can be sure she's there,"_ Mary replies.

 _"Okay, we're off. Lila, we'll find the real Sissi,"_ Yumi says, trying to reassure me.

"Thanks. Ulrich, I'm going to handle this clone. I need you to go back to the tower and make sure it's well guarded. Can you do that?" I ask, flying the broomstick directly above the mountainous pass, so we can easily jump down.

"Yeah, I do!" Ulrich exclaims, reflecting another spade. Ulrich and I stand up on the broomstick, it wobbles greatly but we jump down and land on the pass. Looking up, Sissi's spectre growls, infuriated that we have the upper hand now. Using Sissi's overbike, she revs it up and flies down to meet us.

"Super Sprint!" Ulrich exclaims. Using his super sprint, he super sprints back to the tower. Sissi's spectre gets her Overbike on the pass. She gets off the bike and faces me.

"You know, Xana, Sissi's not that great of a fighter. What's wrong, didn't want to use one of us?" I taunt. Spectre Sissi smirks, and starts changing into different people. First Odd, then Ulrich. I gulp.

"Him, on the other hand… he's a good fighter," I say and ready my hunter's knife. My powers flow through me and into the hunter's knife. My lightning bolt amulet glows, and the hunter's knife is engulfed with electricity.

 _"Lila! I've got some bad news, Xana is trying to take control of the tower! Two of Ulrich's clones are dealing with the Tarantulas but he still needs time to cut the cables! If he can't… we'll lose everything! The vehicles, and Aelita's materialization code!"_ Jeremy exclaims, worried.

"He'll figure something out!" I exclaim, as Ulrich's spectre starts running at me, leaving a trail of orange behind. Gripping my electrically charged hunter's knife, I run at him. Our blades clash, and we're both knocked back.

"It's true, Xana, Ulrich's a good fighter. But with my electrically charged hunter's knife here, I'd say we're evenly matched," I smirk. The spectre growls again, annoyed by my taunting. It begins to shape shift, and turns into…

My eyes widen.

"How... could you?!" I exclaim, putting my electrically charged hunter's knife up. The spectre is Cameron now... A much eviler, darking looking Cameron, whose outfit has changed to a dark red with black stripes. In his pouch, instead of the flute, is a long revolver gun. Spectre Cameron takes out the gun quickly, and pulls the trigger. Bullets fly out of the revolver, and I quickly reflect the bullets using my hunter's knife.

Each time that I do, memories flood back into me. Our last and first date at the coffee shop… and his laughter…

My mind snapping back to reality, I glare at Spectre Cameron who is now reloading his gun. I'm angry. I'm truly angry that Xana would dare take the form of someone I liked. I should have told Cameron how I felt about him, but instead I let Emily have him… because I'm a kind person.

Pulling my arm back, I yell as I throw my electrically charged hunter's knife at Spectre Cameron. The spectre is surprised by this and doesn't have enough time to react. It's impaled by the hunter knife.

The hunter knife sends electricity throughout the spectre, and the spectre is pulled off its feet, then vanishes in a cloud of pixels. My hunter's knife drops to the ground, and the electricity disperses.

 _"Lila… are you okay?"_ Mary asks me. I shake my head.

"No… I just…. Ugh! What's going on with the tower?" I ask.

 _"We're about to lose the tower!"_ Jeremy informs. I run up to my hunter's knife, grab it, and sheathe it in its sleeve.

"What can I do?" I ask.

 _"Ulrich is still trying to cut through the cables, but they won't budge! I'm not sure if you can make it over to the tower in time. Even with your broomstick,"_ Jeremy replies.

 _This can't be it..._ I think.

 _"Ulrich!"_ Jeremy exclaims suddenly. I look over to where the activated tower is, I see that it is indeed turning red.

"Oh no!" I exclaim.

 _"Xana is about to steal all of my data… we're done for…"_ Jeremy trails off.

Looking at the tower, the red aura suddenly starts turning white.

"It… it can't be," I say.

 _It's Franz Hopper! He's saving us!_ I think.

 _"What's going on?"_ Jeremy asks. _"Aelita? Lila?"_

"Jeremy, I think Franz Hopper is saving us!" I reply.

 _"Of course… that would make sense. Aelita, how about things on your end?"_ Jeremy asks. I can't hear her side of the conversation, but then Jeremy says:

 _"Lila… we've got the diary decoded. I'm bringing you in."_

"Okay…" I trail off. Looking at my body, my body starts materializes in pixels.

 **Inside the scanner room**

The scanners' doors open, and I step out of the scanner, tired and upset.

 _I still can't believe Xana would even think of taking Cameron's form… I'm glad it's over though,_ I think.

"Lila, I just heard from Yumi and Odd. They found Sissi, she's okay," Jeremy informs.

"Thank goodness…" I trail off, smiling in relief. After a moment, Aelita tumbles out of the scanner and onto the floor.

"Are you okay, Lila?" Aelita asks.

"I will be. Thanks, Aelita. Come on, let's get back up to the lab," I smile.

"Okay," Aelita smiles back at me.

 **Afterwards**

 **Back inside Jeremy's room**

Odd and Sissi are sitting on Jeremy's bed. She's been using a towel to dry off from because she was submerged in water. Xana managed to trap her and nearly drown her by filling up water underneath a metal grate. The spectre ended up bringing her to the Hermitage after all. From what Sissi had explained it seems like Odd and Yumi arrived in the nick of time.

Ulrich, Aelita, and I are standing in the room. Yumi is by Jeremy's desk, and Jeremy is sitting in his chair.

"Franz Hopper was the creator of Xana. In his diary, he wrote down everything that had happened, during the creation of Lyoko," he explains while looking at us.

"Everything."

"That means you'll be able to find the antivirus," Aelita says. Jeremy closes his eyes, contemplating on telling Aelita what he found out.

"Yeah it does," he turns away from us and looks at his computer. He lifts his finger. "But there's something more," he continues.

"What?" Ulrich asks.

"Come on, let's hear it," Sissi says.

"Well, before Franz Hopper virtualized himself on Lyoko, and before being taken prisoner by Xana, he lived here on Earth," he explains.

"We already knew that, though," Yumi reminds him. Jeremy gets up from his chair, and walks to her. He lifts his finger in front of her.

"Yes, but what we didn't know… was that he had a child," Jeremy explains. He puts his hands in his pockets, and looks at us. "A little girl," he reveals. I look at Aelita, who raises her eyebrows.

"Really? What became of her?" Odd asks.

"He virtualized her on Lyoko, at the same time as himself," Jeremy replies.

"And… did she fall victim to Xana too?" Yumi asks. Jeremy looks at Aelita.

"No… she stayed on Lyoko."

"Huh?" Aelita asks. "But that's impossible! If Hopper's daughter were on Lyoko, I would have definitely known! I'd-" she trails off, as the others look at her.

I think they've realized the same thing I've been keeping from her since I first arrived here. Jeremy closes his eyes once again.

"I'm not –" Aelita shakes her head, and Jeremy opens his eyes again. He smiles, confirming Aelita's realization. Aelita gasps.

 _Now you know Aelita… you're the daughter of Franz Hopper. I only hope… my knowledge of the future doesn't affect our friendship. I hope one day you'll understand why I couldn't tell you. And why you needed to find out for yourself,_ I think.

 **Later at night**

 **Inside Lila and Aelita's room**

Aelita has been quiet all night since her revelation, and during the rest of the day. I can tell she's upset with me even more since she's sleeping with Mister Puck, she hasn't been with him in a while. We've been through so much together, and as I look at her while she's sleeping, I just can't help but feel guilty. I'm about to go and take a shower, then change into my pajamas, when my phone vibrates. I take it out and see It's Mary. I answer it and put it to my ear.

"Mary?" I whisper.

 _"Meet me in the lab. I've got the passcode to the laptop…"_ she trails off.

My eyes widen. Hanging up, I put my phone in my jacket's pocket. I zip up my pockets, and then I zip my jacket up. Looking at Aelita one last time, I go to the door. I open it, and silently close the door behind me.

 **Inside the lab**

The freight elevator's doors open, and I run inside the lab. Mary's sitting on the holosphere display case, the headset earpiece placed on the keyboard probably after she had called me. She has MB's laptop open and on her lap. I go over to her, and sit on the holosphere display case with her. I look at the passcode, and my eyes widen.

"Impossible…" I trail off. The passcode is _13041994._ It seems Mary's new order she entered clearly works because the date is April 13th, 1994!

"The code is... my father's birthday! But it can't be!"

"Yes, it is…" Mary trails off.

"How is this possible?! My father died… how on earth could a laptop that was put in Franz Hopper's train station locker, be connected to him?!"

"I'm not sure. That's why I waited for you. Would you like to do the honors?" Mary asks, turning the laptop to me. I nod. I press the enter button, and the code is accepted, a green bar confirming the code. It blinks for a second, and then a countdown of fifteen seconds appears on the laptop.

"Uh Mary, please tell me it's not going to explode or anything," I say.

"Doubtful. Perhaps as a fail safe it would, but the code has been accepted. Meaning something's about to happen in 10," Mary counts.

"9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4," we count together. "3, 2, 1, 0." The countdown ends, and the laptop screen goes blank. Mary and I raise our eyebrows. Suddenly, we hear noise coming from the scanner room. Mary puts the laptop on the floor, as we get up and into defensive position. Unsure of who – or what is about to make their way to the lab.

We hear one of the scanners open, and coughing. We hear the voice of the person. It's a girl. Mary and I look at each other, still surprised by our revelation, but we don't lower our guards. The girl starts climbing up the ladder shoot. She finally reaches the lab, and gets her feet onto the floor.

Looking at her, this girl is a bit taller than me and Aelita. She has neck length black hair and black eyes. She wears a black long-sleeved shirt, with blue jeans. She's wearing black and white tennis shoes they seem to be pretty worn out.

"I'm glad someone finally cracked the passcode. It seems I was asleep for quite a while," the girl says.

"And, uh, who exactly are you? Why do you have my father's birthday as the password on this laptop?" I ask her.

"It was my father's idea… your father was a good friend to him."

"Your father? Who's your father?" Mary asks.

"Bill Bedard," the girl replies. I raise my eyebrow.

"We don't know anyone by that name," I say. The girl looks at us and smirks.

"Yeah you do. Bill it's a nickname... for William." Mine and Mary's eyes widen.

"William Bedard? The only William we know is-" I start to say, then gasp at the realization.

"Dunbar. William Dunbar… is… your father?" I ask her.

"Yeah. My real name is Mia Dunbar. I guess I should probably explain how I got here, right Lila?" Mia asks.

"You know about me and my father? But how – when?" I ask.

* * *

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

 **IN:**

 _The Key Part 1: Season 2 Finale_

* * *

Author's Note: MB has finally been revealed! Her backstory was changed a lot. Ultimately **AeroJester203** and I had decided it would make more sense for her to be William's future daughter. We hope you liked that reveal! The code's order was changed to a French format to make the fanfiction more believable. Now that Mia Dunbar has been revealed what do you expect from her?

 **Paladin777** you came very close to guessing Mia's correct backstory had I decided not to change it sometime ago.

* * *

Cameron was originally owned by **Undeadmonkey8**. Dark Cameron was created by me and first appeared in the dark saga. This will mark the last appearance of this OOC. (Out of character.) Please remember that OOC Cameron was originally made of my making and became different because of the chip that controlled him. He was not in anyway a character his creator made, that would actually betray his friends. That was all my doing... unfortunately.

* * *

With the reintroduction of Kayori Avalon, who is owned by **decode9** , she will be Lila's potential love interest in the fanfiction. I know some of you originally voted that William should be Lila's love interest a while back. With Mia's introduction however William is like an uncle to Lila so that would have been pretty weird.

* * *

A note about Jeremy's birthday. As well as his and Aelita's age. Tracking it down was pretty difficult for me to come up with for this fanfiction. In the beginning of this fanfiction (which is why it started in 2005) Jeremy was 11 when he restarted the supercomputer. Within a year he and Aelita turned 12 at some point (2006.) In Mary Smith, Jeremy had a birthday and I purposely made it April 13th. His birthday was first revealed in the dark saga. He turned 13. (2007.) Aelita in my version of Common Interests was already 13. (2007.) In the show, there was a dubbing error putting her at the age of 12. However this means she and Jeremy are the same age but Aelita must be a few months older than Jeremy in my fanfiction. All of us know Aelita is still 13 because she spent a number of years in the supercomputer when it was off. Most likely this stopped or prevented the aging process for her. However this would mean she was already 11 years old when she and her father were virtualized onto Lyoko. Jeremy would have been just a few months old since his birthday is in April.

"June 6th, 1994," is the day Hopper virtualized himself and Aelita onto Lyoko.

* * *

The final chapters of season 2 will be released on the same day. I hope you'll enjoy the double update!

Until next week,

Don't forget to review!

LyokoWarrior1994


	51. The Key Part 1: Season 2 Finale

**Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is copyrighted by Moonscoop.**

* * *

This chapter was written by me. It was edited by **AwesomeFanFictionAuthor**.

I only own Lila and Mia. Mary is owned by **AeroJester203**. Kayori Avalon is owned by **decode9**.

* * *

 _The Key Part 1: Season 2 Finale  
_

* * *

 **Inside the lab**

 **POV Lila's**

 **"** It's a long story, but it's all thanks to my father, William," Mia replies.

"So William really _is_ alive in the future then," Mary says. Mia looks down at her feet.

"No… no, he's not. I mean yeah, he was for some number of years. But I um… lost him shortly before my time jump," she explains.

"I'm sorry for your loss," I say. "My earliest memory of William is when he called my father. I was ten at the time and my birthday was coming up. I had to do my language homework for Sissi who was the principal at Kadic. Despite what happened to the world leaders, she still kept the school opened."

Mia looks back up at us.

"Yeah, I remember that phone call, I was on the other side of it. I was 12 at the time. Countries were being blown up every other month. My father… he was a bit paranoid about Xana. He kept thinking France would be the next target… so he had the two of us go into hiding shortly after that. Under a pseudonym," she explains.

"Bedar," I say, making the connection.

"That's right," Mia nods. "Before we left, Jeremy told us about you and how you were doing in school. He tried to assure my father that Xana hadn't made any attempts on your life. William just didn't believe him…" she trails off.

"Okay, let's say we believe you. How did you come to be on Lyoko?" Mary asks. "And why was your name changed?"

"It wasn't Lyoko," Mia answers. "It was a sector I created. Similar to the limbo sector that's between Lyoko and Sector Five. The one I made however, is smaller. You and Odd have actually been there before. As long as your digital avatars had their original data in tact, they would be saved. Say, if they didn't say have materialization codes." Mia smiles mischievously at me.

"Wait... Odd and I have been to your sector? When was that?" I ask.

"A while back. It must have happened on your first exploration trip to Sector Five," Mia replies. "You wouldn't have remembered going to my sector because that's how I made it. If anyone was there besides me, they would forget they were ever there in the first place. I had some awareness at times, when I was asleep. It just happens, I was aware that day and you were both there at that time. You must have been devirtualized without your materialization codes," Mia explains.

"Oh... interesting," I say.

"Yeah. I made it as a fail safe for you guys. And to answer your other question miss-" Mia starts to say but Mary interrupts her.

"Mary."

"Mary. To answer your question, my father had a friend that was going to help him disappear and leave no digital traces of William Dunbar. We did this to get away from Xana. That's actually how we were able to travel under a pseudonym," she explains.

"And who was your friend?" I ask. Mia smiles at me.

"You'll never believe it… but it was Herb Pichon." Mary and I look at each other in disbelief, then back at her.

"Herb?!" we exclaim.

"Yeah. We went to Herb after we left our home. From there, my father got the idea to sneak into the factory, and had Herb download anything that might be of use to us. He downloaded a lot of programs he thought might be useful, copied them all onto the laptop you have now. We never actually had a chance to go through all of them but we did discover Franz Hopper's unencrypted diary that must have been stored into the supercomputer by Jeremy at some point. It was on a restricted part of the supercomputer mind you, but Herb figured it out. Fortunately when Herb was downloading Hopper's diary, he happened to also come across Jeremy's time machine calculations that were still running. He downloaded those onto the laptop too and after that we left the factory. He was still good friends with Nicholas who owned a boat company of all things, and was still hiding out in the city. We met up with Nicholas, Herb erased all digital traces of William Dunbar then myself. He created the pseudonym for us and then we took off on a boat to a nearby country that hadn't been blown up. From there we just slowly gathered the parts for our time machine," she explains.

"Okay, and the power source for the time machine? How did you come about that?" I ask. Mia looks down at the floor again, saddened.

"That… that was our mistake. We had to go _back_ to France, thirteen years later in fact. To Jeremy's company buildings, to be precise. They still had power, and Herb figured whatever was generating their power was perfect for at least two trips in the time machine. We met up with a bunch of refugees who were in hiding. They were able to help us bring the time machine onto Nicholas's boat. Nicholas had a pretty good supply of diesel fuel for his boat, and it was big enough to transport the time machine and the rest of us. We kept the time machine below deck. When we finally arrived back in France, we had to carry the time machine inside the main company building where the main power supply was. Thankfully it wasn't that bad. With the power running we brought the time machine onto the elevator. It took us to the top floor. Once there, Herb went to the power generator room to get the power supply. My father, he talked with me, told me more stories about his adventures with the Lyoko Warriors. Then, Herb came back, and he installed the power supply into the time machine with tools he brought to do the job. That's… when we made our mistake. The time machine booted up and Xana-" Mia starts to say but I interrupt her.

"That's when Xana attacked all of you in the building? Wasn't it?" I ask. Mia looks surprised that I know this.

"Yeah. He brought in these Bot-like creatures, they started zapping us one by one. My father gave me a suitcase with my initials MB, which contained the laptop and some other important items. He said Herb installed a preset date – June 6th, 1994. He urged me to go, and I did. I time jumped to that day, knowing I might be stuck in a return to the past loop."

"You… were willing to risk that?" Mary asks.

"Yeah, and that's when things turned interesting. I was 25 at the time but because of time travel I became a teenager again. In both body and consciousness. Everything I'm wearing now - has basically shrunk from its original size. I used to be taller too. I arrived on the river bank just outside the factory, of all places. My time machine was sinking in the river, and I used my suitcase to help keep me afloat. I swam to the back of the factory. My suitcase was pretty wet, but it was dry for the most part by the time I got to the front of the factory. It seemed Franz Hopper wasn't there yet, so I got to the lab. Lyoko, Xana, and Sector Five were already made. I had to make sure I could make my own sector," she replies.

"Okay, so you made your own sector, and what else?" I ask.

"A connection. Something that would prove useful to the Lyoko Warriors in the future. It connects Lyoko and Sector Five," Mia replies.

"You did all of this without Franz and Aelita catching you?" I ask.

"Franz almost caught me," Mia reveals.

"Almost?" Mary asks. Mia nods.

"Yeah, when I was done with my work, I still had to figure out a way to set an alarm on my laptop with Lyoko. Hacking the network Lyoko was on took some time. By the time it was synced I only had enough time to make an eight-digit code for the laptop that could set the scanners off. I didn't have time to make it a personal security question or anything. So I chose your father's birthday, remembering that my father suggested it might be useful as a code at some point. Then once everything was set up… the elevator went upstairs, meaning Franz had arrived. I brought myself and the suitcase downstairs into the scanner room. Thankfully, it appeared I arrived on the right version of that day because that was when Franz recorded his last video diary entry," she explains.

"And from there, you followed him to the train station?" I ask, catching on.

"Yeah, I did, after he put everything on those encrypted CDs. He got distracted at the train station. He thought someone was following him, which I was, but I think he was looking for someone else. I put the suitcase in his locker and thankfully he didn't spot me or look at his locker when he closed and locked it. From there he got Aelita, brought her to the lab, and virtualized onto Lyoko. I used the same virtualization process they did, except I virtualized myself directly into the sector I made. The supercomputer was turned off by someone, I assume Franz did it somehow while on Lyoko. I've been in my sector ever since," Mia concludes.

"That's an incredible story. Can you provide any other proof you are, who you say you are?" Mary asks. Mia nods.

"Yeah, you still have my suitcase?" she asks. I nod.

"Yeah, but I'll need to get it from my room."

"I'll wait here, with Mia," Mary says.

"Okay, I'll be back shortly," I say.

 **Afterwards  
**

 **Inside Lila and Aelita's room**

I quietly open the door to our shared closet. Below the closet is this little space where I had put the suitcase away for safekeeping. As well as my old one when I arrived here. I take Mia's suitcase out of that space. Aelita's still asleep with Mister Puck. Being careful not to disturb her, I go to the door and open it, closing it quietly, and leave to go back to the lab.

 **Back inside the lab**

Mary uses Mia's laptop, and nods after some time.

"I can confirm part of her story. Your father's time machine calculations and Franz Hopper's unencrypted diary entries are stored in here. There are programs stored on here as well. It would take time to look through all of them but I believe she is telling the truth."

"That's good," I say, walking up to them.

"And this should confirm the rest," I say, handing the suitcase to Mia. Mia takes it and opens it. The suitcase appears to be empty, but this doesn't surprise Mia. She rips the top part off, and reveals documents, along with a charger that's probably not usable, although it's a miracle the laptop didn't get damaged in the end, and a wallet with money and probably ID cards. It's a miracle nothing got damaged by water from what I can tell. Then again it probably just dried up over time like Mia had mentioned earlier.

"Woah, your father made sure you were prepared," I say, surprised.

"He did, yeah. I have several different documents that can prove my identity as Mia Bedard in this timeline. Herb forged them, and Nicholas supplied the money. They were both big time travel movie buffs. Herb suspected my body would decrease in age and consciousness by 10 years. He made sure to use my old 15 year old photos, on the ID cards when he made them. They both helped my father and me a lot honestly. If it weren't for Herb and Nicholas, we probably would have never survived as long as we did," Mia explains.

"You do realize they're kind of, well, mean now, right?" I ask.

"I know, and so is Sissi," Mia replies. "But I'm prepared to handle them."

"Actually, Sissi is a Lyoko Warrior now," I tell her. "And she's nicer too. She has enough space for a roommate if you want to." Mia sighs.

"I'll give her a chance I suppose."

"If I might ask," Mary says, closing the laptop and handing it to Mia, who takes it.

"What happened to your mother?"

Mia looks at us. "I…. I never knew her," she answers sadly.

"I'm sorry… I really never got a chance to know my mother, either. She died the day I was born," I explain.

"I'm so sorry. Um, if you need a roommate?" Mia asks. I shake my head.

"I'm okay, thanks. I'm actually rooming with my mother now amazingly," I explain. "Her name is Aelita."

"Ah, Aelita, of course Jeremy ended up with her. So, you're their biological daughter then?" Mary and I look at each other, and I look at Mia.

"Yes, I am," I lie, not wanting to tell her the full truth. I am biologically their daughter though so it's not a total lie.

 _If she knew the truth, about Mary and Future Xana I'm not sure how'd she react,_ I think.

"That's great. So, where can I stay for the night?" Mia asks.

"I'll stay with you in the lab, and tomorrow we'll get you enrolled into Kadic. The expenses will be taken care of. Lila, you still have that debit card of yours with the lottery money?" Mary asks.

"Of course, yeah," I reply.

"Great. I'll stay up with Mary tonight. I've been asleep for years now, so I'm going to give my laptop a much-needed security update," Mia says.

"Sounds good. I'll get going then and tomorrow we'll have you enrolled as Mia Bedard," I smile.

"I'd like that very much. Thank you," Mia says, smiling back.

 **The Next Day**

 **Principal Delmas's Office**

Mary, Mia, and I are in Mr. Delmas's office. I brought Mia a change of clothes along with a new pair of shoes. The clothes fit her but they are a bit snug. She's wearing a black t shirt, with blue jeans, socks, and a plain black pair of tennis shoes I haven't bothered to wear yet. She'll need her own clothes of course, so we'll probably go on a shopping trip.

"And so you see, Mr. Delmas," Mary says, finishing the story. "She really needs to go to school here. I adopted her during my travels, and I think she would do well in the same classes Lila and Aelita have." Mr. Delmas nods.

"I see, I see. And your travels were for the company you work for, is that correct, Mrs. Smith?" Mr. Delmas asks.

"Yes… it was. One of the reasons why Lila didn't hear from me when I was overseas was because I had grown ill. I'm doing better now with the medication that's helping me with my recovery," Mary explains.

"I'm glad to hear that," Mr. Delmas says. "Unfortunately, Mrs. Smith, I am only able to approve your daughter's room and board. She can earn some credits during the upcoming summer break. From there she can be placed in the classes your daughters are. It seems that would be better for her education rather than going immediately into a higher class level."

"Thank you, Principal Delmas. I think that would be just fine," Mary says.

"There is the matter of the bill. I'll have to find your daughter a roommate, but I'm not sure who has an available room," Mr. Delmas says.

"Um, if I may sir," I say. "Your daughter Sissi does have space for a new roommate. I think she'd be okay accommodating Mia." Mr. Delmas nods.

"Yes, you may be right. Very well then, Mia Bedard, welcome to Kadic Academy," he says.

"Thank you, sir," Mia smiles.

 **Afterwards**

 **Outside Sissi's room**

Jim brings us to Sissi's room and knocks on the door. She opens it and is surprised to see all four of us.

"Hi Lila, Mary, Jim. Who's this?" Sissi asks.

"Sissi, this is your new roommate. Mia Bedard," Jim introduces.

"She's an adopted sister to Lila, like Aelita is," Mary explains. Sissi seems stunned by Mia's name.

"Mia… Bedard huh? Well, come on in. Jim, you'll be bringing her a bed, right?" Sissi asks.

"I will. Your father wants you to show her around. Classes won't be starting for a little while, right?" Jim asks.

"Yeah," Sissi replies.

"And after our day's done, I'll take you out shopping. How does that sound?" I ask.

"Sure! Can Mary come too?" Mia asks.

"Oh, I'm not really feeling up to it," Mary replies. "Jim, please tell Principal Delmas that if he needs any more information, he can contact me on the new number I left him."

"Of course Mrs. Smith," Jim says. Mary nods and then leaves us.

"So Mia - this is your new room, and although you'll be rooming with Sissi there are a set of rules you must follow," Jim says. He's about to go through the list but Mia says:

"Actually Jim, Lila already explained them on my way here to school this morning," she lies.

"Alright then. I'm sure having a roommate will be fun. I used to have one back in my school days," Jim mentions.

"You did?" we ask in unison.

"Yes… but I'd rather not talk about it," Jim replies. Mia can't help but smile at that, seems William must have mentioned Jim's famous catch phrase to her.

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside the cafeteria**

"And this is the cafeteria, where Rosa makes the best food ever," Sissi adds, finishing the tour. Mia looks over the cafeteria and the students in it. She spots William, Herb, and Nicholas at one of the tables.

"Why don't you get some food, Mia, and I'll inform the others about you?" I ask.

"Sure," Mia replies as she goes into the line. I look at Sissi.

"Do you mind going with her?" I ask.

"Not at all. Is… she really _the_ MB?" Sissi asks. I nod.

"It's a long story; but yeah she is."

Sissi smiles and goes over to Mia. I go to our table. Yumi has a seat open for me and Aelita is sitting next to Jeremy. Odd is sitting on the other side of Jeremy.

"Hey Lila, everything okay?" Jeremy asks.

"Well…" I trail off, looking at Aelita who is still upset with me for not telling her about who she really is.

"You're never going to believe it but – MB is here," I reveal.

"Huh?!" the others exclaim. This seems to get Aelita's attention too, and I sit down and begin retelling the story Mia told me.

 **Afterwards**

Odd finishes his scrambled eggs as Mia finishes her second round of scrambled eggs. I finish telling Mia's story. At least the others now know about our bodies and consciousness as it turns out decrease in age, they don't seem too bothered thankfully.

 _I never really thought about it but when I had entered the timeline; I always acted like my true age. Physically I was 13 but Mary and I should have realized that my consciousness reverted back to 13 too,_ I think. _Although if I think about it I would have actually turned 14 within a week or so living in the timeline. Then when we celebrated Aelita's "birthday," with her surprise cake I was turning 15. Now months later, it's only April I'm still 15 and knowing my birthday is coming up in September... well it just makes thing easier. It's too bad I can't tell the others I'm actually going to be 16 though. Hard to believe months ago Aelita was still living on Lyoko. So much has changed since 2006... I just honestly hope 2007 is going to be a better year for us. I feel like we deserve it. With Mia hopefully coming on board... I think she'd make a nice addition as a Lyoko Warrior,_ I think.

Mia moves onto her mash potatoes with the spoon she has.

"That's… incredible," Aelita says.

"Yeah, that's what Mary said too," I say.

"You must have had a hard life like Lila," Jeremy says. Mia stops eating her mash potatoes.

"I think Lila had a much harsher life, but both were difficult. I know I'm new and everything, but I have to ask – can I be a Lyoko Warrior?" Mia asks, putting her spoon down.

"Of course! The more the merrier, right Einstein?" Odd asks.

"Yeah, we can definitely use you. Especially if you're a programmer like me. What do you say, Aelita?" Jeremy asks.

"That's fine," Aelita replies. "Classes are starting soon. We should get going. Mia, after classes are done today, we'll get you scanned so you can become immune to the return to the past. You'll be okay in Sissi's room, right?" she asks.

"Yeah. I'm still updating my laptop's security, so that'll take up most of my day," Mia replies.

"At least you'll be busy. As for me, I have an Italian test so I should get going," Yumi says, picking up her empty tray.

"Bye, Yumi," we say. Yumi smiles and walks away.

"Mia, I know you may want to interact with your father, but I think for now it might be best-" Jeremy starts to say but Mia nods.

"I know. It'll be best not to interact with him." I look to Aelita.

"You know, Aelita, Mia is going on a shopping trip with me after classes are done today. Would you like to come with us?" I ask hopefully.

"No thanks," Aelita replies, picking up her tray. She walks away from us and I sigh.

"Are you two going to be okay?" Ulrich asks concerned.

"I hope so," I reply.

"Where's Mary going to be staying, Lila? I forgot to ask you," Sissi says.

"In the lab. I know she's going to try and look for a house soon, but for now the lab seems to be good for her," I say.

"Well that's good. Wow! Is that the time?" Jeremy asks, checking his watch. The bells ring and we look at one another.

"We gotta go! Like now!" Odd exclaims, getting up. The others pick their trays up, besides Mia who just keeps eating. Makes sense I suppose since she hasn't eaten in years.

"See you guys later," she go put our trays in the dish washing section and rush off to our class.

 _We're sooo going to be late,_ I think.

 **The Next Day**

 **Inside the freight elevator**

We're all heading down to the lab.

 _The shopping trip went well yesterday. I bought Mia some new clothes, all of the essentials she would need, pillow, sheets, and blankets included. A skateboard since she suggested it would help her get around in the tunnel system. She was really fond of the purple leather jacket with a zipper she found. She said she'd start wearing that in the near future. For now she's has a lot of white t shirts, seems she didn't want to stand out which I get. Black jeans, plenty of socks, briefs, and brown Velcro tennis shoes. Even though we were late yesterday, our teacher understood since we had a new student attending the school. We weren't punished this time, thankfully. I also updated Mia on current events to bring her up to speed, and she finished updating her laptop, too. Aelita won't really talk to me, though… I wish I could apologize but, how can I? I couldn't reveal the truth to her, she needed to learn it herself,_ I think.

The freight elevator's doors open and Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, Sissi, Mia, and I walk into the lab. Mary is by Jeremy, sitting on his chair. They're looking at the screen.

"Hey, Einstein, we've been looking everywhere for you," Odd says. We walk into the lab. Jeremy looks at us.

"Mary and I have been up all night, reading Franz Hopper's diary," Jeremy explains. He starts typing on the keyboard, and the video on the screen rewinds itself.

"Listen to this," he says.

"And pay attention, every bit of this… it's important," Mary adds. We nod. Jeremy rewinds the video diary to the part he wants to show us, and presses play. Grandpa Schaeffer is in his lab coat, wearing his red sweatshirt. He has his hands together, folded.

" _June 6th: 1994. Day 67. Project Carthage was a military program used to block enemy communications,"_ Grandpa Schaeffer explains.

"Wait, it's further down," Jeremy says. He starts typing on the keyboard again, and fast forwards the video. He presses play.

" _So I've built the supercomputer, created Lyoko and last of all… Xana. To destroy Carthage."_ Jeremy fast forwards the video again and then presses play. This time Grandpa Schaeffer is holding what appears to be a cup of coffee.

" _June 6th, 1994. Day 639."_

"It's still further," Jeremy says and once again fast forwards the video diary. This time, when he presses play, Grandpa Schaeffer looks frantic.

" _June 6th, 1994. Day 1,265. Someone is watching me. Someone wants to get rid of me!"_

All of us gasp a bit, minus Mia. After all, she saw how paranoid he looked on his last day on Earth. Jeremy fast forwards the video diary once more. He presses play. Grandpa Schaeffer fixes the camera angle a bit, he then settles his hand on the arm of the chair.

" _I wanted to destroy the supercomputer. And destroy all of the evidence of my activities. That's when I discovered one of its fascinating properties… returning to the past. It gave me all the time I could possibly need, to perfect my great project. The only thing that will allow me to escape my enemies."_

Typing on the keyboard, Jeremy fast forwards the video again and then presses play.

" _June 6th: 1994. Day… 2,046."_

"This is it," Jeremy says. All of us peer closer at the supercomputer's screen.

" _The scanners for the virtualization are ready. In a few hours, I will go to Lyoko with Aelita. Just like me, Aelita will hold the keys to Lyoko. Together, we will be the absolute masters. We will be safe together… forever,"_ Grandpa Schaeffer says, and he turns the camera off. The video diary ends. Aelita, looks shocked beyond belief. Jeremy and Mary turn back to us.

"The keys to Lyoko. That's what Xana wants to steal from Aelita's memory," Jeremy says.

"What would Xana want to do with them?" Ulrich asks. Aelita continues looking at the video diary folders, still trying to process the information she's just been told.

"Escape from the supercomputer… and take over the world," Aelita says.

 **Later**

 **Inside the cafeteria**

Aelita, Sissi, Mia, and I are all at the table. Aelita and Sissi are sitting together, while I am sitting with Mia. Aelita has only eaten a banana, she's left the peel on her tray. Her eyes are closed and she's stirring her soup. Sissi, Mia, and I can't help but be concerned.

"Aelita, you guys. You should have stuck around until the end," Jeremy says, he sits down next to Aelita. Odd sits down next to me, and Yumi takes a seat next to Jeremy. They also have their meals with them, and they put their trays on the table.

"I didn't have time to tell you the best news of all. It turns out, I've been wrong all along," Jeremy mentions.

"You have?" Ulrich asks, sitting down with his tray.

"About what?" Sissi asks.

"I thought that Xana had given Aelita a virus, so I've been looking for an antivirus. But thanks to Franz Hopper's diary, I've figured out that Xana didn't give her anything at all. In fact, he took something from her," Jeremy explains.

"He did?" Yumi asks. She puts down the bowl she's been sipping from.

"Like what exactly, Jeremy?" I ask.

"I don't really know yet. It's a fragment that belongs to her. I've located it in Sector Five," Jeremy answers. Odd stops sipping from his own bowl and looks at him.

"We can go and get it tonight! After the end of the year dance," Odd says.

"Awesome! It'll be our final mission. And then, it's time for a well-earned vacation," Ulrich smiles, putting his hands behind his head.

"Out of the question!" Aelita exclaims suddenly, getting up from her chair and pushing it back.

"Huh?" all of us ask. Aelita walks away from the table and makes her way to exit the cafeteria. Jeremy gets out of his chair and runs to catch up to her. Part of me wants to go too, but it's probably best Jeremy handle this alone. Mia looks at me.

"Say, I forgot to mention… um, Mary told me to tell you she's going out today. She's searching for houses," she tells me.

"Is she really?" I ask.

"Mh-hmm. She wanted to let you know she took the debit card," Mia replies. I nod.

"I can't imagine what Aelita must be feeling…" Yumi trails off, sighing.

"Me neither…" I trail off, looking down at my tea. All of us sigh.

 **Afterwards**

Sissi, Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, Mia, and I walk out of the cafeteria with our classmates.

"If I can have your attention! I'd like to remind all of you, that during the end of the year dance, any overly suggestive dancing, wild behavior, or trouble making will be severely punished. Uh, that's all," Jim says, ending his announcement.

I notice Kayori standing under the arches as she waits for one of her classes to start. She seems to have noticed me and smiles at me.

"So far, I don't have anybody to take to the dance. Fortunately, I have a way with women," Odd says. Turning around, he walks up to a girl with red hair. He puts his hand on her shoulder.

"Hi, want to go to the dance with me?" Odd asks.

"I told you to never speak with to me again!" the girl replies angrily.

"Oh, sorry," Odd says, pulling back. Mia, Sissi, and I can't help but giggle slightly at his failed attempt. Looking at Kayori, I decide to walk over to her and let the others go about their business. I smile at her.

"How are you doing?" I ask her.

"I'm alright, thanks. So, are you going to the end of the year dance tonight?"

"I'd like to… though I don't have a date either," I reply. Kayori rubs her arm.

"Well… how about we go together? As dates?" she asks, then blushes. I blush too.

"Um… I'd like to… it's just that my friends don't know that I'm, um, bisexual," I reply in a whisper. "To be honest, this is still kind of new to me." She nods, understandingly.

"I understand. My parents don't know that either. And… we can consider it a date if you want to, but say that we're...going as friends?" Kayori suggests.

"I'd like that," I smile. Kayori smiles too. Looking back at the vending machines area, I see Odd, Ulrich, and Mia are sitting on the ground. I turn to Kayori.

"I should be heading back. Can I get your number?" I ask her. She nods and takes out her cell phone too. Taking out my cell phone, I create a new contact. I enter Kayori's name and hand the phone over to her. She puts the number in for me, and presses the button, confirming it. She smiles and hands me the phone. I text her with my number, writing _"Hey, it's_ Lila." Her phone vibrates and she smiles.

"Got it," Kayori says.

"Great," I smile, putting my cell phone in my pants pocket.

"If… if anything comes up, I'll try not to let you know the last-minute okay? Things are kind of… iffy, but I honestly want to go with you. I really do," I smile.

"Okay," Kayori nods. "I'll try not to be too disappointed if you can't make it."

"Thanks," I say. Kayori smiles and I smile at her again, before taking off and going to meet the others at the vending machines area. Jeremy walks up to us, too.

"Has anyone seen Aelita?" Jeremy asks.

"No," Ulrich replies, looking up at us.

"There's no answer on her phone, and the supercomputer isn't responding," Jeremy informs. I turn to him.

"That's strange…" I trail off.

"Any chance it's just buggy?" Mia asks.

"Maybe, I'm going to the factory to check on it. Lila, want to go with me?" Jeremy asks, looking at me.

"Sure," I reply, and I look at Odd playing his Game Boy.

"Where's Sissi by the way?" I ask.

"Getting ready for her date," Ulrich replies. He and Mia share a chuckle at Odd.

"Are you two… going out?" I ask him. Odd simply nods.

"It's… more like a pity date," he replies, which causes Ulrich and Mia to laugh. Odd pouts at them. Jeremy and I shrug. We start making our way to the factory.

"Cover for us with the teachers, okay?" Jeremy asks. As we're leaving, Yumi shows up. We smile at each other in acknowledgement, but don't really say anything.

"You know, I'm really worried about Aelita. I wish the two of you could make up… it's weird seeing you guys not talking," Jeremy says.

I nod.

"It is for sure…"

 **Inside the lab**

Jeremy sits on his chair, he types a few command keys and the main screen of the computer begins to load. But then, it blanks out.

"This isn't right..." Jeremy trails off.

"No, it isn't. Why did Mary go house shopping on the one day we need her to fix things?" I ask.

"I'm not sure. Let's just go to the supercomputer room and check on it," he suggests. I nod.

 **Inside the freight elevator**

Jeremy and I stand next to each other, the freight elevator brings us down to the supercomputer room. We're both concerned and confused as to why the supercomputer isn't working.

The freight elevator finally reaches the room, and the doors open.

Our eyes widen, the room is completely dark… and so is the supercomputer. Everything's been turned off… and Aelita is on the ground.

 _Mom!_ I think, I go to the supercomputer and reaching it, I pull the lever up. The lever goes back up and into its hatch. The supercomputer lights up, restarting itself. The light is in the supercomputer room is back on too. Jeremy and I rush to Aelita's side.

"Aelita!" Jeremy exclaims, taking a hold of Aelita. It's almost as if he's cradling her.

 _How… how long has she been…_ I think.

"Answer me! Come on! Wake up!" Jeremy exclaims.

"Come on Aelita, you've got to wake up! For us!" I exclaim too. Sure enough, Aelita wakes up with a sigh as if she's just been asleep. But it's more to it than that. She was dead for at least a couple of minutes… she…

"Surely you must have known how all of us would have felt if we hadn't found you in time!" I exclaim at her.

"You're insane! Why did you do that?!" Jeremy asks sadly.

"To save the world... to save you all!" Aelita exclaims.

"We'll save it together. And then you'll have your whole life in front of you. A brand-new life," Jeremy tells her.

I go to them. I put my hand on Jeremy's shoulder, trying to comfort him as he holds Aelita. This is the first time I've felt close to them, like they were really my parents. But I have to remember, if another version of me is ever born in this timeline… that version will be their child. Not me.

They're my best friends, and I can't stand seeing them like this. I wish I could tell Aelita the truth, that she really does have a whole future ahead of her. With Jeremy, and her child. But I can't. And I hate that I can't.

 **Afterwards**

 **Back inside the lab**

I check my phone. Kayori's texted back.

 _I understand you can't get to the phone now. Sorry, you can't make it… but at least you did warn me…_

I reply:

 _I did. I'll make it up to you, okay?_

Kayori:

 _Okay._

Me:

 _I'll talk to you later. Got to go._

I receive another text from her but decide it's better not to look at the phone now. I put my cell phone back into its pocket. Jeremy has his headset earpiece on, he's already adjusted the mic part and Ulrich's Lyoko profile picture with his number pops up. Jeremy is preparing us for our mission.

"It's me. Are you at the dance?" Jeremy asks.

" _No, I don't want to go,"_ Ulrich replies.

"Glad to hear it. Aelita, Lila and I aren't going either. Come to the factory. It's mission time. Let Odd, Sissi, Mia, and Yumi know too. Okay?" Jeremy asks.

" _Okay,"_ Ulrich replies. He ends the call and his picture, along with his number, disconnect. I look at Aelita and she looks at me.

"Hey, I'm… I'm sorry for um… keeping the truth about you a secret for so long. At the very beginning, it's true, I knew… but Mary forbade it because it would change the timeline drastically if you knew much earlier on. And you know, with your future self's sacrifice … it makes sense why. Time travel is tricky to understand, Aelita, I just hope you can forgive me?" I ask her.

She looks at me, contemplating whether she should forgive me or not. Jeremy continues typing away, giving us this moment to settle things.

Aelita pulls me into a hug, to my surprise. I hug her back.

"I'm sorry too, Lila… and I forgive you. I shouldn't have tried to…"

"I know. I forgive you too."

Jeremy smiles at us, happy that we just made up.

 **Afterwards**

Ulrich, Odd, Sissi, Mia, and Yumi are all in the lab. Aelita and I are standing side by side.

"This is the big one guys, we're going to recover Aelita's fragment and get rid of Xana once and for all," Jeremy says.

"Let's go then," Odd says. He starts walking to the freight elevator. "I'll lead the way."

Yumi, Sissi, and I look at him, it's very rare to see Odd taking the initiative. Yumi and Sissi follow after him, I follow Yumi, while Aelita follows behind. Ulrich is the last one to follow us in. I look at Mia.

"You aren't going to Lyoko with us?" I ask her. She shakes her head.

"While I did build my own limbo sector, I, uh, don't actually have my own code for materialization into Sector Five yet. I'm hoping all will go well, and that all of you will succeed. This way, you won't need to get me a materialization code at all. I'll stay here and protect Jeremy if Xana thinks about activating a tower and hurting him. Sound good Jeremy?" Mia asks him.

"Sure. Just be careful everyone," Jeremy replies. I nod and press the red button to go down. The freight elevator's doors close, and down it goes.

 **Inside the scanner room**

The scanners doors open, Yumi, Aelita, and I step into our respective scanners. The scanners doors close, and I close my eyes.

" _Transfer: Yumi, Transfer: Aelita, Transfer: Lila,"_ Jeremy begins. The scanner starts spinning and starts humming.

" _Scanner: Aelita, Scanner: Yumi, Scanner: Lila,"_ he continues. The scanner continues spinning and humming.

" _Virtualization!"_

The bright light and wind engulf me, billowing my hair and lifting my time machine necklace slightly. I'm virtualized to Lyoko.

* * *

 **TO BE CONTINUED:**

 **IN:**

 _The Key Part 2: Season 2 Finale  
_

* * *

Author's Note: Well that's it! Mia's backstory has officially been revealed! **Finalcool720,** good job on guessing one of the original backstories for Mia. Unfortunately a while back **AeroJester203** and I had decided it would lead the fanfiction down a darker path. So the idea was thrown out.

* * *

Mia was 25 years old. She lost her body and consciousness by ten years just like Lila did. (Thank you **Paladin777** for reminding me to confirm that.) Mia was born sometime in 2018. This means she is older than Lila because Lila had not turned 11 just yet when Mia was 12 and William had called Jeremy in the year 2030. This was shown in the chapter Lila Belpois. Mia left her and Lila's future world in 2043, shortly before Lila did but time jumped to June 6th, 1994. Lila was revealed to be 24 when she time jumped in Lila Belpois and not 23 like how I had written it in the prologue.

* * *

Mia is also the "hypothetical time traveler," that was hypothesized in the dark saga. She is responsible for the original Lyoko Warriors defeating Xana so soon because Jeremy found that connection.

* * *

Make no mistake. Mia Dunbar AKA Mia Bedard is a good person. She does not have a bad hidden agenda. Mia not knowing her mother isn't a trope for this fanfiction per say... but we'll dive more into Mia's past sometime during season 3 of Changing Destiny: Lila's Journey! I hope you enjoy part 2!

* * *

Don't forget to review, I would really like to hear all of your thoughts on this part!

LyokoWarrior1994


	52. The Key Part 2: Season 2 Finale

**Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is copyrighted by Moonscoop.**

* * *

I only own Lila and Mia. Mary is owned by **AeroJester203.** Kayori Avalon is owned by **decode9.**

* * *

This chapter was written by me. It was edited by **AwesomeFanFictionAuthor.**

* * *

 _The Key Part 2: Season 2 Finale_

* * *

 **Lyoko's Ice Sector**

 **POV Lila's**

My vision returns, I spot Aelita and Yumi as I fall to the ground. When I get up, I see our vehicles materialize, and after just a few seconds, Sissi and the boys are virtualized. They land in a crouch position and see the vehicles too.

" _There you go. The edge of the sector is north, northeast,"_ Jeremy says.

" _And look out for monsters!"_ Mia adds.

We all get onto our vehicles. Jeremy materialized my broomstick, I suppose it'll always be my vehicle. I kick it into the air and take off. Tilting my weight and tightening our formation, there are no monsters in sight.

" _No monsters?"_ Jeremy asks.

"Nope!" Odd exclaims, driving in closer to us.

"It's strange, isn't it?" Sissi asks.

"I was thinking the same," Yumi replies, nodding.

" _Don't worry. Xana wasn't expecting us,"_ Jeremy replies.

"That's true, he wasn't," I nod. We reach the edge of the sector without incident, and dismount.

"Enter the code," Aelita says.

" _Okay. All aboard for Sector Five!"_ Jeremy exclaims. The Transport Orb floats down and opens. It scoops us up and takes us to Sector Five.

 **Sector Five**

 **Arena room**

The Transport Orb arrives at Sector Five and opens, dropping us off in the spinning arena room.

"Oh," Odd says. We look at him.

"What's wrong, Odd?" I ask him.

"Do you feel like throwing up, as usual?" Ulrich asks. Odd looks at us.

"No, I don't. That's what I don't understand," Odd shrugs.

"Stranger things have happened," I say, and he nods in agreement. The room slows down and the walls start aligning.

" _You guys ready? As you probably know by now – when the countdown starts, you'll need to trip the key mechanism to stop it. Be on alert for creepers,"_ Mia says.

"Creepers? What are those?" Sissi asks.

" _Huh?_ _You know, the monsters in Sector Five? Do you guys not deal with them_ _?"_ Mia asks.

" _No, they don't, Mia. The_ _y_ _deal with these weird flying Bots that shoot powerful lasers. The_ _ir_ _lasers_ _deal about 40 life poin_ _ts of damage,"_ Jeremy explains.

" _Oh_ _? We_ _ll... be careful all the same,"_ Mia says.

" _Anyways, I'm going to enter the coordinates of the room where Aelita's fragment is,"_ Jeremy says.

"Get ready, the wall is about to open," Aelita says. The wall opens, and the doorway aligns itself.

We run through the doorway and down to the second set of walls. We reach the second set of walls, they open one by one.

" _You have three minutes to find the key and stop the countdown. Lila, it should be easy to find the key mechanism with your visions,"_ Jeremy says.

We start running.

"Well about that Jeremy… I'm not sure if I'm ever going to have another vision again," I say.

"But why?" Aelita asks, glancing in my direction.

"It's a long story… maybe I'll tell you guys after our mission," I say.

" _Okay…?"_ Jeremy replies. He lets it go for now and we reach the new room.

"I see it!" Yumi exclaims, pointing to the key mechanism high up on a far away wall. There are some ledges on the wall, so we can climb up. I run for the wall. Suddenly, six Xana Bots fly into the room.

"Lady Luck!" Sissi exclaims, activating her slots. The slots in her bracer start spinning and soon come to a halt. She looks at her bracer and mumbles:

"Stupid joker symbol. Of all times," she then sighs.

We all draw our weapons, except for Yumi. Yumi decides to take a running start, and cartwheels over the ridges toward the key mechanism. The rest of us start running at the Xana Bots, letting Aelita take cover behind us.

The Xana Bots charge their lasers and fire. I dodge the laser, Ulrich blocks the lasers with his katana, and Sissi rolls to the side. Odd jumps over a laser and fires off a Laser Arrow at one of the Xana Bots in the air. The Laser Arrow connects, and the Xana Bot explodes. This causes the five remaining Xana Bots to zoom off into a new offensive position.

Odd lands on the floor and Sissi takes out her baton. She presses the button on it and it extends. She swings it at two of the Xana Bots. A gust of wind flows through the air and hits two Xana Bots. This causes the Xana Bots to knock into each other, but they don't explode.

I take advantage of this and grab two arrows out of my quiver. Putting my arrows on my bow, I pull the drawstring back. The four other Xana Bots notice this, and start charging their lasers, aiming at me.

"Super Sprint!" Ulrich exclaims. Using his super sprint, Ulrich runs over to me and blocks the incoming lasers with his katana blade. I smile and release my arrows. The arrows fly off and hit the Xana Bots that are still trying to get upright, causing two explosions simultaneously. The three remaining Xana Bots fly off in another direction. They seem to be heading towards Yumi.

Odd starts running on both paws and legs, then yells and jumps into the air.

Focusing, he cocks his paw and fires off three Laser Arrows at the Xana Bots flying towards him. The Laser Arrows reach their mark, causing three small explosions. Odd lands back on the floor. Sissi, Ulrich, and I put our weapons back in their respective places. We check on Yumi as she's pressing the mechanism. The eye of Xana lights up and sinks into the wall. She looks over to us and smiles.

" _Nice job Yumi. 15 seconds to spare,"_ Jeremy informs. The floor itself shifts beneath us, causing us to yelp in surprise.

"Woah…" Ulrich trails off, as the center of the floor sinks, revealing a huge hole in the floor with a staircase leading down into the depths. Yumi joins us, and we can't do much except stare for a moment. Eventually, though, Odd breaks the silence.

"Want to see how low you can go? Huh, guys?" Odd asks, gesturing for us to go first.

" _I thought you were going to lead the way, Odd?"_ Jeremy asks.

" _Yeah Odd. What happened_ _to_ _that? Feeling nervous already?"_ Mia asks.

"What? No way! Okay then, follow my lead!" Odd exclaims. All of us look at him and smile. Odd jumps down, onto the first steps, and we follow him down.

 _I just hope this is going to turn out okay. Mary, where are you when we need you the most? Why did you choose today of all days to look for houses?_ I think, as the rest of us follow Odd down the stairs.

 **Afterwards**

After a bit of running down this huge staircase, we come to a hallway in a big open room. There's something weird at the other end of it, but I can't quite make it out.

"Jeremy, Mia, there's something shiny over there," he points over to whatever that thing is.

" _That's it! That's Aelita's missing fragment!"_ Jeremy exclaims.

Upon hearing this, Aelita breaks into a sprint. We follow her, panting heavily from the running we've been doing. We hear more whirring coming our way.

"Not again!" I exclaim, and I take my bow out as quickly as I can. Yumi, Ulrich, Sissi, Odd, and I all surround Aelita, covering her.

"These guys are persistent," Sissi says. Yumi takes out her Tessen Fans, Ulrich takes out his katana blade, and Odd cocks his paw. Sissi takes out her baton, she presses the button to extend it twice its size and readies it like a baseball bat.

The five Xana Bots start charging their lasers, and release them. Odd fires off several Laser Arrows and the Xana Bots fly around in different parts of the room.

Odd glares at them, annoyed by their speed. Grabbing three arrows, I put them on the bow and channel electricity into them. My amulet glows and the three arrows are engulfed in yellow electricity. I pull the drawstring and release the electrified arrows. The arrows fly faster than normal since they've been given some extra juice.

The arrows hit their mark, electrifying the three Xana Bots, causing them to explode. The remaining three Xana Bots start flying around the room some more. Sissi wings her baton, a gust of wind is released, causing the Xana Bots to stop flying suddenly.

"Go, we'll cover you!" Yumi exclaims. She throws one of her Tessen fans at the Xana Bot. The Xana Bot fires a laser at the incoming fan. The laser hits the fan, and the fan falls to the floor. I look to Aelita, who nods, and she starts running.

"Laser Arrow!" Odd calls out, and fires off a Laser Arrow at one of the Xana Bots, but it dodges it rather easily.

I put my bow back on its hook, and I start running with Aelita. Aelita and I continue running down the bridge, and we hear lasers being fired off, and the others fighting. Getting closer to the end of the bridge, we see a wide-open space between Aelita and the place where the fragment is being kept.

Hearing some whirring coming behind us, I look back to see the others running to us on the bridge. There are two remaining Xana Bots, from the ones we were fighting from earlier. Two more Xana Bots zoom into the room. They charge their lasers and fire them at Odd and Sissi, who yelp and fly back, crashing onto the floor, they devirtualize instantly, into a cloud of pixels.

" _Odd! Sissi!"_ Jeremy and Mia call out in concern. Looking at Aelita, I hold out my hand to her. She looks at me, a bit hesitant, but takes my hand. I back up with Aelita, and I charge the soles of my feet with electricity. My amulet glows, letting me know I'm ready. Aelita and I run together, and we jump off the edge of the bridge, the electricity giving us a boost in the air.

We start falling and let go of each other's hand, we barely manage to grab the edge of the platform. Pulling ourselves up, we get onto the floor of the platform. We look back at the others. Ulrich is blocking the incoming lasers from the Xana Bots, and Yumi is running to catch up to us. She reaches the edge of the bridge and jumps off. Aelita and I reach our hands out so she can at least grab one of them.

She manages to grab my hand, and I pull her up, but then a few lasers hit both Yumi and me, making us fall and devirtualize in a cloud of pixels.

 **Inside the scanner**

The scanners' doors open, and I fall to the floor. I punch the floor, frustrated.

"Jeremy, you gotta send me back!" I cry out. I look over to Odd and Sissi, who run over to me. They help me up. I look to Yumi. One of the scanner's doors open and Ulrich is back. He looks at me too.

" _You know I can't, and there's not enough time to send Mia- a_ _nd oh no… the Scyphozoa!"_

All of us look to each other in concern, I get out of my scanner. One by one, we head over to the ladder. I climb up first, the others following behind me.

 **Inside the lab**

Reaching the floor of the lab, I run over to the computer's monitors and see that the Scyphozoa is indeed taking Aelita's memory.

"Aelita! Please, Jeremy, there's got to be something we can do!" I exclaim. Jeremy looks at me, heartbroken. He takes his glasses off, trying to wipe his tears. He puts them back on and pushes them to the bridge of his nose. Looking at the window on the computer, we see Aelita's memory dropping into the hundreds.

"There's nothing we can do now…" Jeremy trails off. I start tearing up, as her numbers fall lower and lower, eventually hitting zero. The window with Aelita's avatar starts glowing red, as it lets us know her memory has been taken and that…

"Aelita's dead!" Jeremy cries out, putting his hands on his head in dismay. Sissi covers her mouth in shock, as Odd tries to comfort her. I look at the blinking window, completely heartbroken.

I look at Mia, who for some reason doesn't seem too upset. She just looks at the computer's monitors, as if she's hoping for a miracle that won't come. From our screens, we can see something is wrong with Sector Five. It's dying, too.

The super scan starts going off. One by one it starts locating four towers on each of Lyoko's sectors, that have been activated.

"What – what's going on?" Yumi asks.

"Xa-Xana got what he wanted. He has the keys to Lyoko… he'll be able to get out of the supercomputer," Jeremy responds sadly. All of us look up to the ceiling, as we hear booming coming from outside. It sounds like thunder.

A window pops up, and begins beeping. All of us look at the screens, and Jeremy begins typing.

"What's going on Jeremy?" Ulrich asks.

"It's – It's Franz Hopper! He's bringing Lyoko back to life!" Jeremy replies. There's a bright white light coming from the screens. Once it dies down, we see one tower starting to deactivate and then another. Then the final two. The main screen showing Aelita's avatar glowing red is now back to green. Little images of heads are going back into Aelita's memory bank.

"Does this mean what I think it means? Is…. Is Aelita really coming back to life?" Sissi asks. Mia smiles in relief.

"Yes… it appears so, thank goodness," she replies.

The numbers keep going up, in the hundreds, until Aelita's memory is brought back completely.

Aelita's Lyoko avatar suddenly pops up, along with the devirtualization process window. She's devirtualizing!

"To the scanner room, quickly!" Jeremy exclaims. All of us nod. We head over to the ladder shoot and climb down the ladder, one by one.

 **Inside the scanner room**

All of us watch the middle scanner's doors open, a single light in the darkness. Aelita collapses onto the floor, Jeremy and I run by her side. We bend down.

"Aelita?" Jeremy asks, taking her into his arms.

"Jeremy… Lila…" Aelita replies, looking at us. She groans in pain, and Jeremy brings her into a hug.

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside Jeremy's room**

I'm sitting next to Aelita, who is petting Kiwi. She has a blanket on her for comfort. Mia is sitting on the floor, as is Sissi. Yumi is sitting next to me and Aelita on the bed. Odd is slouching at the end of Jeremy's bed. Ulrich is leaning against Jeremy's desk. And Jeremy is also sitting on his chair.

"Right, would someone please say something funny before I have a heart attack?" Odd asks.

Aelita groans, still trying to cope with all of this.

"My father sacrificed himself for me, and we don't even know if he's still on Lyoko." Odd lays his head on the bed.

"Fine, excuse me while I have my heart attack."

"All of those memories of your life on Earth…. That was the fragment Xana took from you. To bind you to him. And Franz Hopper managed to give them back to you," Jeremy explains. Aelita nods, understanding him.

"Now you're free Aelita – but unfortunately, so is Xana," Ulrich says, speaking up.

"Shutting the supercomputer down is not going to kill Xana anymore," Yumi grimaces.

"Great… then what are we supposed to do?" Sissi asks. Jeremy looks at us.

"Same as always: we'll fight," he says. He gets up from his chair. "Xana may become more powerful," he starts walking over to Aelita and me.

"But I don't think he's invincible. If Xana attacks, we'll counterattack. We'll find a way to get rid of Xana for good," Jeremy says determinedly. Yumi looks over to Aelita.

"And we'll do everything we can to find your dad, Aelita," Yumi adds. Aelita gestures Kiwi to get off her and he does.

"You're right. The fight has to go on," Aelita says, looking down at herself. I nod and get up from the bed. Ulrich walks over to us too.

"After all, fighting Xana is my job," Aelita says.

Jeremy holds out his hands, Yumi smiles taking one of Jeremy's hands, Ulrich takes his hand, and Sissi takes Yumi's other hand. I take a hold of Ulrich's hand, and Mia takes a hold of my hand Odd takes Mia's hand, as he is the last one to offer his hand to Aelita, and we've sort of locked each other in a near circle.

"No Aelita, it's our job," Jeremy says, speaking up. Aelita looks up at us, surprised, she smiles. She takes Sissi's free hand, and Odd's free hand. We all smile at each other.

 **The Next Day**

 **Under the arches**

I'm waiting for Kayori under the arches. I had called Mary earlier letting her know everything that had happened. We talked about things and what went down. She told me she did buy a house and I told her I'd be happy to stay with her during vacation. Kayori runs up to me, she smiles.

"Sorry about that. Had to bring a few things to my parent's car. So, we're all set to walk over to the movie theater, if you want to," Kayori says.

"I'd like that," I smile. Kayori smiles too.

"Let's go then," she says. I nod.

 **Inside Sissi and Mia's room**

 **POV Mia's**

I look at Mary, who is in mine and Sissi's room. The roll out bed has already been placed on the right side of the wall. The bed has been made and thankfully the pillow Lila bought me seems pretty soft.

"So, you found a house after all?" I ask.

"I did. It's big enough for me, you, and Lila. But she wants to stay on campus next term, understandable. Would you mind staying for the night? It's been an eventful day from what Lila told me," Mary replies.

"Sure," I smile. "But I'll need to be back by tomorrow morning. After all, it'll be the first day of summer break and I'll have to be on time for my classes."

"Of course," Mary nods.

"Say um… can I ask you how you're related to Lila?"

Mary looks at me, a bit surprised but nods anyways.

"I was designed by her father. He made me her guardian.. I'm an artificial intelligence that can shape shift. I'm similar to Xana spectres in some ways," she explains.

"I see… and did Jeremy make it? In the future, I mean?" I ask. Mary shakes her head.

"No he didn't," she replies.

"Sorry to hear that," I sigh. "Um, since I only need a change of clothes for the night, I'll pack light."

"Okay, we'll leave when you're ready," Mary says.

 **Later that night**

 **POV Mia's**

The house Mary bought is indeed big enough for four people. I'm staying in the guest room for tonight.

Downstairs in the living room, there's a table for eating with a large fireplace where a TV would usually go. There are two sofas in the living room. We have a basement with one bathroom and upstairs where my room is, there's also a bathroom.

Our kitchen is well equipped, but hasn't been fully stocked yet. Dinner should be ready soon.

From the living room, there's a door that goes to the porch out back. We even have a nice gated yard. It'll help if Odd ever wants to bring Kiwi to the house.

 _I hope Mary doesn't mind me eating the food. I can't help but wonder if she can actually eat, though?_ I think.

 **Inside Mary's study**

 **POV Mary's**

I'm in my study reading a book. I put the book down on the table.

"Do you think it was okay we didn't tell Mia the truth about what I am?" I ask.

 _ **Yes,**_ Future Xana replies. _**It seems my evil half caused her and her father, to have difficult li**_ _ **v**_ _ **es. Made William paranoid…**_ _ **I**_ _ **f**_ _ **she knew the truth, she would hate you and Lila.**_

"I'm inclined to agree," I say. "At least we can start off on the right foot with Mia. Perhaps in time, we'll be able to tell her the truth."

 _ **Yes, perhaps…**_ Future Xana trails off.

"Is something wrong?" I ask.

 _ **Lila will no longer have her visions. I allowed her access to my old memories of where I knew**_ _ **the key mechanism would be. At least, when it was nece**_ _ **ssary.**_ _ **I am concerned that she and the Lyoko**_ _ **W**_ _ **arriors will take a longer time**_ _ **in finding the key mechanism**_ _ **,**_ Future Xana replies.

"I see, well there's no way of knowing. Your current self could try something different in the battles to come. For now, we can only hope Mia will be a good addition to the team," I say.

 _ **Yes, you are correct. You should head to the kitchen to check on that meal of yours, it might be ready,**_ Future Xana informs.

"Right," I say. Getting up, I walk to the door and open it, then close the door behind me.

 **Later**

 **Inside Lila and Aelita's room**

 **POV Lila's**

 _That was a nice date. The movie ran a little later than expected but it was good and then we had dinner at a diner near here. Thankfully I had found my wallet in mine and Aelita's shared closet yesterday. Still had money in it since I rarely used it. I brought the debit card with me but there wasn't a need for that. It was a great surprise to learn that Kayori would be living on campus next term. I hope Emily will treat Kayori okay as her new roommat_ _e,_ I think entering mine and Aelita's room. I close the door, and I hear Aelita making a noise. I look to her and she starts waking up.

"Lila?" she asks, rubbing her eyes. Going to her bed, I reach it and say:

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." Aelita sits up and she pats the bed, gesturing me to sit with her. And so I do.

"That's okay," she says. "Um, I wanted to ask you about your visions, but I didn't get the chance to. Why do you think your visions are gone?"

"Well… I haven't had any since we freed Mary. Since then, they've just been sort of… gone."

"That's too bad," Aelita sighs. "I was hoping they could help us in the near future."

"Me too," I nod. "Look, it's late and we have to get you ready to leave for Yumi's house tomorrow. I'm staying with Mary for the summer break. I'll head to bed; I don't mind not sleeping in pajamas."

"Okay, if you're sure," Aelita says. I take my father's jacket off, my wallet is in one of the pockets, and place it on my chair. Taking my shoes off, I place those on the chair too and push the chair. Going to the ladder, I climb up to my bed.

 _I'm sorry Aelita. But some secrets need to be buried. I'm not sure if Mary or myself can ever tell the truth to you and the others about just how bad my life really was in my future world. I guess that's the burden of_ being _a time traveler. I can never be 100% honest with the people I care about… and that includes Mary, too. I can never tell her what really happened while sh_ _e was trapped inside the Scyphozoa's mind. It would break her heart,_ I think.

I get into my bed and lay down. Putting my head on my pillow, I pull my covers on me and try to get a good night's sleep. Today has certainly been an eventful day, and I'm sure there's more to come.

* * *

Changing Destiny: Lila's Journey!

 **Will Return:**

 **IN:**

 _Season 3: Straight to Heart_

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Author's Note: We are finally done with season 2! It was a much larger season because of the dark saga. I can't wait to show all of you what I have planned for season 3! Changing Destiny: Lila's Journey! will be on another short hiatus. We will return August 15th.

* * *

Fun fact: The house Mary bought in this chapter is mostly the same one from the dark saga.

Easter Egg from the show: Mia brings up "Creepers," the original monsters of Sector Five. Remember, a while back the current timeline Xana found out about the Xana Bots through Mary's memories. Xana told Lila they were much more sufficient than the Creepers.

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Don't forget to review!

LyokoWarrior1994


	53. Straight to Heart

**Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is copyrighted by Moonscoop.**

* * *

This chapter was written by me. It was edited by **AwesomeFanFictionAuthor.**

I only own Lila and Mia. Mary is owned by **AeroJester203.** Kayori Avalon is owned by **decode9.**

* * *

Author's Note: Hi everyone, we're back and with the first chapter of season 3! Just like the show it is a MUCH shorter season. For those of you wondering why I haven't implemented Odd's shield ability, (I may have mentioned this already) but the shield ability will not debut until season 4 however, it will have a "background story," during season 3 of Lila's Journey. I just never liked how Odd's shield had no background story as to how it was implemented. Fun fact: It did appear in Xana Awakens which aired in season 3 of the show. Anyways, onward with the story!

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Enjoy!

* * *

 _Straight to Heart_

* * *

 **POV Lila's**

 **Inside Lila and Aelita's room**

I'm in mine and Aelita's room, and I've just unpacked the rest of my things for the new term. Everything is pretty much the same. Mia has caught up a lot from her summer classes. She enjoyed having Sissi's room to herself. She's surprised by how much Sissi had changed from what William must have told about her.

I open my desk drawer and take out my diary. I unlock it with its key. I go to the last page I wrote in and begin to write.

 _Dear Diary,_

 _Summer vacation went well. I can't believe it, two weeks without Xana! A much needed break, for sure. We're nearing the end of April now. And I've got some news… my blonde hair is back! Ever since Sissi dyed my hair, any time I'd take a shower I would always bring shampoo with me. I found out that if I shampooed a lot per shower, my hair dye would simply fade out over time. And it finally faded out! Mary and I started noticing the hair was fading out only days after I left campus. A good thing, too!_

 _Unfortunately, my hair length remains the same. I gotta admit, though, the hair style grew on me. My hair fringe was really long, and needed a cut anyways. Kayori and I saw each other a lot during break, since Mia had to make up classes since she was a late transfer. And Kayori remained with her family during vacation which is great because they live near by. That's how we were able to spend time with one another. We've mostly been to places that's public and the movie theater. Neither one of us have admitted to our families that we're seeing each other. While I haven't exactly kissed Kayori yet – I feel like we're getting closer and closer. We'll probably have our first kiss soon. Well, I better get ready to greet Aelita, she should be arriving any minute now._

 _See ya!_

 _Lila._

Closing the diary, I lock it with its key, before putting it, the key, and the pen into the drawer. Closing the drawer, I walk to the door.

There's a knock at the door, and so I open it and see Aelita and Yumi. Yumi appears to be helping Aelita with her luggage.

"Hi guys!" I exclaim happily.

"Lila, it's good to see you! And you have your blonde hair back!" Aelita exclaims happily. She gives me a hug as Yumi brings the luggage in. Aelita and I let go of each other.

"The red hair dye faded away during break," I say.

"Great. Say, Yumi, after we unpack everything, we should head to the lab to greet Jeremy. I'm sure he'll be thrilled to see us again," Aelita says. Yumi nods.

"I'm sure he will. Where did you want your clothes to go?" Yumi asks.

"Closet. Lila, you wouldn't mind helping us, right?" Aelita asks.

"I wouldn't mind at all Aelita," I smile.

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside the lab**

The freight elevator's doors open, as Yumi, Aelita, and I walk inside the lab. Sissi and Mia still had a lot of unpacking to do – more of the clothes belonging to Sissi, so Mia offered to stay in their room to help her unpack. Jeremy is sitting on his chair, Yumi is carrying a checkers board with her. Aelita and I walk up to Jeremy, he turns to greet us.

"Hey guys. How was your summer vacation?" he asks.

"It was great! Nice and peaceful, how about you?" I ask.

"Good. Stayed with my parents for the most part. What did you and Aelita do?" Jeremy asks. Yumi sits down as she begins setting up the checkers board.

"I stayed with Yumi's parents. It was nice," Aelita mentions.

"I stayed at Mary's. It was nice, too," I reply.

"That's good. As much as I like the quietness… I'm concerned about our friend Xana," Jeremy says.

"Maybe he took a vacation, too?" Yumi asks. It appears she has her checkers board all set up.

"That's doubtful. He's up to something… but whatever it is, I'm sure we can figure it out," Jeremy replies.

"Say Aelita, how about a game?" Yumi offers. Aelita looks at Yumi and nods.

"Sure thing, Yumi," she replies. Aelita goes over to Yumi and I look at Jeremy. He seems to come to a realization.

"Oh, I almost forgot! During our vacation… I had time to come here to the lab. With Mia in the group now, I figured she'd be going on Lyoko missions with all of you – so she'll use your old overboard, something that I think will work better for her," Jeremy mentions.

"Okay… and what kind of vehicle will I have now?" I ask.

"You'll still have your broomstick, but I gave it a paint job," He replies.

"Awesome."

"Oh, and I'm glad to see your hair is back to its usual color."

"I am too," I smile.

 **Afterwards**

Yumi and Aelita continue playing their checkers game near the freight elevator. I'm sitting next to Aelita, watching their game. The freight elevator makes a noise as it appears someone has arrived. I turn to see the freight elevator's doors opening. Aelita puts her white checker on the board, and we turn to see who it is. It's Ulrich and Odd.

"Welcome back, campers," Aelita greets. Ulrich and Odd walk over to us.

"Two weeks without us, not too long?" Ulrich asks Aelita, reaching her. Odd reaches me, and looks down at us.

"Did you miss me a little, ladies?" he asks.

"Forget it. You could have stayed away for three weeks. Xana attacks – zero," Yumi replies.

"Well, a nice quiet summer, huh?" Odd asks Jeremy.

"Kind of. As I mentioned earlier to the girls, ever since Xana discovered a way to leave the supercomputer and then manage to access the world wide web – we haven't heard anything," Jeremy explains.

"No news is good news, right?" Ulrich asks.

"That's what you think. I trust Xana as far as I can throw him. Which is why I've just reprogrammed the super scan. From now on, we'll know where the big bad wolf is hiding," Jeremy replies.

"That's great, Einstein. But how's that going to help?" Odd asks.

"Well, first of all, we can try and find out how he uses the internet," Jeremy replies.

"Cool. And then you send us in after him, so we can crack a few heads," Ulrich says.

"That's about it," Jeremy says as he starts typing again. "But wait – getting you into the internet isn't all that easy. So first let's get a handle on what his scheme is." Jeremy presses the enter button and we hear a window pop up. Some sort of beeping occurs.

"Yeah!" he exclaims.

Odd clasps his hands together, before separating them. He says:

"Well, let me remind you, we have to pick up our class schedules before lunch. So let's move."

Aelita gets up, I do as well. She and I start walking with Odd to the freight elevator with Jeremy and Yumi dragging behind.

"Ulrich…. Wait a second," Yumi says.

Odd presses the button for the freight elevator's doors to open, and they do. We walk inside the freight elevator and let Yumi and Ulrich talk. She gathers the checkers that she and Aelita were using.

"Lila, nice hair by the way," Odd compliments.

"Thanks. The red hair dye finally faded away during break. So how are things between you and Sissi?" I ask. I had some contact with Sissi during break.

"Huh, you and Sissi? When did that happen?" Jeremy asks.

"During break," Odd answers truthfully. "And… we're good. Delmas wasn't happy about it. Given my history."

"Can you really blame him?" Aelita asks.

"No, I can't. Are you two coming or what?" Odd calls out to Yumi and Ulrich.

"Be right there!" Yumi calls back, then picks up the chessboard before saying something to Ulrich again.

 **Afterwards**

Telling the others I'd meet them in the administration building, I head over to the arches and see Kayori waiting for me. Walking up to her, I smile.

"How was the rest of your break?" I ask her as I give her a hug. She embraces me in return, and we then pull away from each other.

"It was fine, thanks. Wish it was longer though, like back in the States," Kayori replies.

"Yeah, I can understand. Getting used to a schedule like the one Kadic can be difficult. I'm from the States, originally, so it took some getting used to," I lie mostly.

Kayori looks at me. She's probably noticing I'm still wearing my necklace, hiding underneath my black t shirt which is completely zipped up with my father's magenta jacket zipped up.

"Do you think someday you'll tell me about that necklace of yours? I did tell you about my chains…" Kayori trails off.

"You did – and I'm grateful that I'm earning your trust. But this necklace… it's been in my family for generations, and it's something I've learned I can't just show it to anyone... I'll tell you someday," I say.

"Okay," Kayori nods. "Did you get your schedule yet?"

"No, in fact I was going to check on my friends about it after meeting with you. Did you get yours?"

"No," she shakes her head.

"Could… we grab our schedules together?"

"Sure," I nod. Kayori smiles. We walk together to the administration building.

 **Inside the Administration building**

Students pass us as we go through the open air corridor. Seeing Mia and Sissi with the others, we walk up to them. Odd has a gloomy face, and the others notice Kayori with me.

"What's wrong?" I ask them.

"Odd's not in any of our classes," Jeremy replies.

"And neither is Sissi," Mia adds.

"Great… just our luck. Um, everyone, this is Kayori. Kayori, these are my friends. Two of them are my sisters, both adopted. Aelita is my roommate as well," I introduce.

"Hi Kayori," Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, Aelita, Mia, and Jeremy say.

"Hi, nice to meet you all. Lila's told me a lot about you. I'm sorry to hear about your schedule conflicts," Kayori says.

"Thanks… I'm sure we'll be able to figure something out. After all, Sissi's father is the principal. And since I'm dating her, he might be more understanding to our conflict," Odd explains.

"And… you're Sissi?" Kayori asks looking at her. Sissi nods.

"I am. So how long have you known Lila?" she asks.

"Well we've been dating for two weeks now and-" Kayori replies before I can stop her.

"Wait – you two are dating?" Ulrich asks. Kayori turns to me awkwardly.

"Um… didn't you tell them?"

I shake my head.

"No… um… I haven't gotten the chance to."

"Oh gosh… I'm so sorry. I didn't know."

"It's okay… I've been meaning to tell them for a while now, anyways," I say, then turn to the others.

"Um, well, you guys… I'm bisexual."

"What does that mean?" Aelita asks, confused.

"It means Lila likes both guys and girls," Yumi replies.

"Likes? Wait you mean that's allowed?" Aelita asks.

"Yeah it is. As long as you make Lila happy, Kayori, our lunch table is always open," Yumi replies.

"Thanks… I'm...um... going to go and get my schedule now. I'll see you in a few. Okay?" Kayori asks, looking at me.

"Okay. See you soon."

Kayori smiles and starts walking toward Delmas's office.

"Um, guys, back to our other problem?" Jeremy asks. They turn to him.

"What are we going to do? Not only does Odd have a schedule conflict, but I do too. It was difficult to get things organized with just Yumi. Now it's going to be impossible," he sighs.

"Look, Jeremy, Odd and I will talk to my father. We'll find out what happened," Sissi decides. The bells ring signaling lunch time. I guess this is something they're doing now for the first day only since it's the beginning of the new term.

"Well, while you two do that, the rest of us will go to lunch," Jeremy says.

"We'll meet you as soon as we're done," Sissi nods. Jeremy, Odd, Aelita, and I walk away, but it seems Yumi and Ulrich are hanging back to talk about something. Turning to Aelita, I say:

"Say um… I hope this doesn't make you feel any different about me. Me, being bisexual and all."

Aelita shakes her head.

"As long as you're happy Lila. That's all that really matters," she smiles. I smile back at her.

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside the cafeteria**

Aelita and I are sitting next to each other at our usual table. Jeremy is sitting next to us. Mia is sitting on a chair by the front end of the table, Ulrich is sitting on the right side.

I've finished most of my meal, consisting of mash potatoes… and something else. Some sort of vegetables, I gather, and I still have a cup of tea left to finish. Ulrich appears to be upset about something but he doesn't speak about it. He simply picks at his vegetables.

"Jim wants to start up a basketball team this year. Apparently, he's played pro ball. But he'd-" Ulrich starts to say, and all of us chime in, including Yumi who's just arrived with her tray: 'Rather not talk about it.' We take a collective laugh, and Yumi sits down next to Ulrich. Ulrich whispers something to Yumi, and just as it looks like she's about to speak, two young boys walk over to us. One I recognize as Hiroki, Yumi's younger brother, but I have no idea who the other one is.

"Hello," Hiroki greets. He's wearing a yellow turtleneck sweatshirt. He wears ankle high brown shorts. His friend has brown hair, wears a red sleeved long shirt with a white center on the front and back. He is also wearing blue jeans.

Yumi groans, annoyed by the presence of her little brother. She puts her hands on her head.

"Ugh, Hiroki, what do you want?" Yumi asks.

"Just wanted to say hello. Aren't you going to introduce me?" Hiroki asks.

"No!" Yumi exclaims, slamming her hands onto the table. Hiroki puts his hands up, in an effort to calm Yumi.

"Cool it, sis, I was only kidding," he assures her as he puts his hands down. "I was going to introduce you to my new pal Johnny."

Johnny laughs and waves at Yumi.

"Listen Hiroki, just because you're in junior high now doesn't mean you have to follow me around. Okay bro?" Yumi asks.

"Better be nice or I'll rat on you if you come home late," Hiroki replies, crossing his arms.

"Ugh!" Yumi exclaims at Hiroki. Hiroki and Johnny starts walking away from the table.

"Yumi, as far as I'm concerned, he's not that bad of a brother. Could be worse," I say.

"I suppose," Yumi grumbles.

Mia takes a sip of her coffee, and I spot Kayori coming into the cafeteria. Getting up from my chair, I look at the others.

"I'll be right back," I say. They nod and I go to Kayori. She looks pleasantly happy.

"I take it you have a good schedule?" I ask her. Kayori nods.

"Yeah, I do. Hey, um… I'm so sorry about earlier. I had no idea you didn't tell your friends about us."

I shake my head.

"No… no I'm sorry. It's fine. I should have told them sooner."

"You sure?" Kayori asks.

"I'm sure," I reply, nodding.

Mia, Jeremy, and Aelita walk over to us. Jeremy is holding his laptop.

"Say, um, Kayori do you mind if we borrow Lila for a bit?" Jeremy asks.

"Sure. I'll see you later," Kayori replies, before going to see Rosa. I look at Jeremy.

"What's up?"

"Jeremy's super scan found Xana," Mia informs.

"And we were just heading to the lab to check it out," Aelita adds.

"Great, I'll join you," I say. The four of us start heading to the lab. As we're walking, we see Odd and Sissi walking to the cafeteria.

"Did you two get your schedules fixed yet?" I ask. They shake their heads.

"No," Sissi says.

"But we're working on it," Odd says, sighing a little. They pass us, and enter the cafeteria. The four of us look at each other, confused. We shrug and keep going.

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside the lab**

Jeremy is typing on the keyboard, as an alert pops up on the monitor.

"Uh-oh," Jeremy says.

"What's wrong Jeremy?" Aelita asks.

"We've got company. Xana has sent a ton of monsters to Sector Five," Jeremy informs. Mia looks a bit concerned… I wonder if she knows something?

"He's probably mad that we found him," Aelita surmises.

"Well that could be it. But then what does he plan to do there with all of his troops?" Jeremy asks.

"I'll head to the scanners," Aelita replies.

"Me too," I say.

"And make that three," Mia adds. The three of us start walking to the freight elevator.

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside the scanner room**

All three scanners are opened, and Mia was already virtualized first.

" _Ulrich and Yumi should be arriving any second now. If you want to wait for them, you can,"_ Jeremy informs.

"We will," I say. We wait for a few seconds.

The freight elevator's doors open with Yumi and Ulrich. They appear to not be talking to each other.

"Is something the matter you two?" I ask, concerned.

"I'd rather not talk about it," Ulrich replies. Yumi and Ulrich walk into the scanner room as we all get ready to virtualize.

 **Lyoko's Ice Sector**

Having decided to be virtualized last, I touch down on the ice and land perfectly. Looking at Mia she's still looking over what she's wearing. Mia is wearing a full body ninja suit – except it's white, with blue stripes around it. Her hands are partially bare since she is wearing black gloves, that cover just one side of her hands. She's wearing a belt, and attached to the belt is a long whip in a holster. The belt also has a buckle. Attached to her leg is a pouch, and opening it Mia discovers there are some sort of metal weapons inside.

I check my hair and I sigh in relief. It's blonde again on Lyoko!

"Aw neat Kunai! Shuriken too! Sweet, ninja tools!" Mia exclaims. She twirls the Kunai in her fingers before putting it back into the pouch, and closes the pouch.

" _Vehicles are materializing."_

Our vehicles materialize. Mia's Overboard, my old one, has been given to her. I smile when I see my newly upgraded broomstick.

A broomstick braided from two long lengths of ornate black wood twisted together with silver decorations at the end, including a crown-like band near the tip of the handle. Two wire-like strings of silver extend from the underside to the base. A symbol of a key is emblazoned on the side and a mass of gears lay near the bundle of streamlined bronze bristles. It even includes a saddle now.

Getting onto our vehicles, I say:

"Nice paint job Jeremy."

" _Thanks. Odd and Sissi just texted me. They aren't going to make it, so I'd get going if I were you."_

"Is everything okay?" Aelita asks, as she hops onto Yumi's Overwing with her.

" _They're still dealing with Delmas apparently,"_ Jeremy replies.

"Alright then, let's go," Yumi says. The others revs up their vehicles and take off. Mia tilts her weight and takes off. I kick my broomstick into the air. Urging it to go faster, it does, and I catch up to the others. All of us travel along the icy path.

"That broomstick really suits you," Aelita compliments.

"Thanks," I smile.

"Yeah you really got the whole my hero thing down," Ulrich jests. I look at him.

"It's not my fault my time machine necklace decided to turn me into a maiden knight," I say.

 _Not that I'm complaining. Since Future Xana is responsible for the reason and all,_ I think.

"Relax, I was just joking. I meant it in a good way," Ulrich says.

"Okay," I say. Reaching the end of the path at the edge of the sector. We dismount our vehicles and walk up to the edge.

"We're here Jeremy, we're at the edge of the sector," I inform. Jeremy says:

" _Great. Now get into position, and I'll enter the Code: Scipio."_

As we get into position, we look to see the Transporter Orb floating down. It opens up and scoops us away.

 **Sector Five**

 **Arena Room**

The Transporter Orb drops us off, and leaves. The walls of the arena room starts spinning. The walls soon stop spinning, everything aligning itself and they open.

"So, where are all of these monsters?" Ulrich asks, unsheathing his Katana.

" _Well what do you know? They're all in a room just below your feet. I've never seen that one before. We haven't been there yet,"_ Jeremy says.

 _How strange, wonder what's_ _there?_ I think.

"But… what are they doing in there?" Aelita asks.

" _How am I supposed to know? You're the ones on site. Listen, instead of talking, head for that room guys,"_ Jeremy replies.

"Can we access the room through here?" I ask.

" _No. Access is through the Celestial Dome. Hurry up!"_

All of us look at each other before running through the doorway. Exiting the doorway, we reach the second set of walls. The walls open up in block like formations and we resume in running.

" _Don't forget to deactivate the countdown. Or you'll be home a lot sooner than you think."_

"Without my visions, this isn't going to be as easy," I say.

"You had visions?" Mia asks. We continue running.

"I did," I reply.

" _You've only got a few minutes to find the key,"_ Jeremy reminds us. We stop at the end of the hallway.

"Take a look at that! It looks like we won't be needing your visions!" Mia exclaims. She points over to the key, that's blocked by a huge gap with only a few platforms to jump on to get across.

"Huh, that makes things easier. Too bad Sissi and Odd aren't here. How do we get to it?" I ask.

"I've got an idea," Ulrich replies. Ulrich starts backing up, he shouts:

"Super Sprint!" Ulrich takes off, leaving a trail of yellow behind and he jumps off the edge. He makes his way toward one block column, and with both hands he grabs a hold of the column. Getting up to it, Yumi looks concerned as Ulrich takes his charge again before jumping off this one with his super sprint.

Aelita looks at Yumi and then at me, before she decides to take the initiative. She backs up a bit as she then starts running to jump to the first block column Ulrich had landed on. She continues jumping, as she makes it to the second one Ulrich is on. She says something to him as he then gets up. She resumes by jumping off from that one and continues doing so with the others. Mia, Yumi, and I look at her shocked as Aelita is nearly there already.

Aelita reaches the last column, as she jumps off it.

" _Five,"_ Jeremy begins counting down. Aelita rolls down to the platform where the key is, and gets up. " _Four. Three."_ She runs over to the key, and jumps into the air. Readying her hand, Jeremy continues the countdown.

" _Two, One."_ Aelita trips the key. It lights up, forming the eye of Xana.

"Zero!" Aelita exclaims, touching back down.

" _Nice one Aelita."_

A door to the side of the key opens, but Aelita looks to the floor.

"I think all of you better get here asap," Aelita says. The block columns are now moving up and down, as Ulrich resumes in super sprinting his way over to Aelita. Yumi, Mia, and I get onto one of the blocks. It goes up, and we then jump down to the next one. Ulrich appears to have finally gotten to Aelita. We continue doing so, as Yumi reaches Aelita first. I'm the second one to reach them, as Mia jumps onto a block as it then brings her up. She jumps off it, and reaching my hand toward the edge, I grab it. I pull her over, she then gets her feet to the floor.

"Thanks," Mia says.

"No worries. Let's go!" I exclaim. All of us nodding, the floor brings us down. We run to the room.

 **Afterwards**

 **At the elevator access point  
**

We reach the elevator access point, and it still hasn't arrived yet. It should soon.

"Jeremy, we're at the elevator," Yumi informs.

" _That's good,"_ Jeremy says. " _There are more and more monsters in that mysterious room. I've got a bad feeling about this."_

"Now!" Aelita exclaims. All of us jump as the elevator picks us up.

 **Afterwards**

The elevator brings us up to where the entrance of the bridge is. The elevator fixes itself and connects with the floor. The door to the entrance of the Celestial dome opens.

 **Celestial Dome**

 **On the bridge**

All of us run onto the bridge, where the data interface pops up.

"We're here Jeremy, Now where do we go to crack some monster's heads?" Ulrich asks.

" _Head for the south pole of the dome. That's where you can get into the chamber. Aelita, I'm going to need to you to find and upload Mia's materialization code. I have a feeling she's going to need it."_

"Right!" Aelita exclaims. Backing up a few feet, Aelita puts her hand up on the data interface. She starts touching the interface, as she begins looking for Mia's materialization code.

"I'm concerned. We haven't seen any signs of Xana's monsters," I say.

"Yeah you're right," Ulrich agrees. Suddenly we hear screeching coming from afar. Looking at the dome, we see two flying Mantas. They must have hatched from their nest earlier.

They start heading towards us, and I see one of them beginning to charge their lasers. Taking the hunter's knife out from its sleeve, I quickly charge it with electricity and go over to Aelita. My amulet glows letting me know it's ready, and the Mantas fire their lasers at us. I block the laser aimed at Aelita, as Yumi twirls towards Mia and opens her Tessen Fans, saving Mia from the other laser. The Mantas fly away from us as they turn to come back at us.

"I've nearly got the code. I'm uploading now," Aelita informs.

"Thanks," Mia says.

"We still need to take care of the Mantas. They're coming back!" Ulrich exclaims. Putting my hunter's knife in its sleeve, I grab my bow and an arrow. Putting my arrow on the bow, I channel my electricity powers. My amulet glows and I let them flow to the arrow itself, charging it.

Aiming the bow at the eye of Xana on one of the Mantas, I release the electrically charged arrow and it flies incredibly fast at the Manta. It hits the target eye, shocking it, and the Manta explodes. With the other Manta getting closer, Ulrich takes his Katana and throws it to the Manta. The katana flies to the Manta, hitting the target eye, and the Manta explodes. The katana falls down to Ulrich and he catches it.

"The code's been uploaded!" Aelita informs, as she stops using the interface. It disappears.

" _Great. Move out."_

Our vehicles materialize and we get on them. Ulrich revs up his Overbike as he takes off.

Aelita gets onto Yumi's Overwing.

"Let's go Aelita," she says and Yumi takes off with her. Kicking my broomstick into the air, Mia and I take off at the same time. All of us make our way to the south part of the dome.

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside the chamber of the core of Lyoko**

Reaching the key to open the chamber, all of us get off our vehicles. Aelita goes to the key and she trips it, it forms the eye of Xana. Suddenly we hear a strange noise, and we look to see large stairs forming. Getting to the first stair, we jump on it. We continue jumping, as we get higher and higher. Looking up, we continue running up the stairs and we finally make it to the chamber.

"Jeremy, I think we're here," Yumi informs.

Reaching the final step, Yumi does a bit of a twirl as she jumps into the air and lands on the floor reaching us.

" _Can you see the monsters? What are they doing?"_

Looking up at the Mantas and Xana Bots, they appear to be firing at a Sphere. A sphere that looks like it has some sort of dating spewing out from it in different directions.

"No way… that's! We need to protect it, don't let the monsters destroy it!" Mia exclaims. She opens her pouch. She gets her Kunai out, and another weird looking ninja tool.

"Why? What is it?" Aelita asks.

"That, everyone…. That is the heart of Lyoko. It's core so to speak. If it goes, we can kiss this sector and Lyoko itself goodbye!" Mia exclaims. The others gasp, Mia and I don't since we figured out what it was.

"Are you certain?" Aelita asks.

"Yes I am! And besides, Xana's attacking it!" Mia exclaims.

"Jeremy?" Aelita asks, looking up.

" _I'll try to find out more about the core. But she's right nonetheless. The monsters should be your priority."_

"We're on it!" I exclaim.

All of us start running on the stairs. Two more mantas fly down and start firing at us. Dodging their lasers, I take my hunter's knife out of its sleeve.

"You're getting on my nerves!" I exclaim. Concentrating my electricity to the soles of my feet, my amulet glows, and I start charging at them.

"Lila!" Aelita exclaims in shock.

Leaping off the edge of the stairs, my electricity gives me a boost into the air before I pull my hunter's knife upward and then as I fall, I reach the head of the Manta. Plunging the hunter's knife into the target eye, I pull the hilt so it begins to rip into the Manta. A shine starts emanating from within the Manta, but I use my hunter's knife to guide the manta upward. As I let it guide me, I hear Ulrich's super sprint. Guiding the Manta closer to high level stair, I release my hunter's knife. Quickly getting up, I jump off the Manta and onto the stairs. The Manta finally explodes.

Putting the hunter's knife away, I see at least six Xana Bots firing at the sphere. Taking my bow, I grab my arrow and put it on the bow and fire. This gets me the unwanted attention of two Xana Bots as they fly to me, stopping their assault on the core.

" _Lila, Ulrich, Mia, Aelita. I just ran a check on the Sphere. Mia was right, it is the core of Lyoko. And you need to protect all three layers, because, like she said, if you don't, then it's game over for good. And the first one just blew!"_ Jeremy informs.

Rolling to the side, I barely just avoid the laser that came at me. I lose my bow during the process.

I charge up my electricity and my amulet glows. Guiding the electricity to the soles of my feet I jump into the air and I take out my hunter's knife from its sleeve. I twirl in the air as I use the hunter's knife to redirect the lasers which hit the target eye on the Xana's Bots. I fall down and land on the floor, the Xana Bots explode.

I run over to pick up my bow, and I see Yumi is nowhere to be found as Ulrich is protecting Aelita.

 _She must have been devirtualized, and where the heck are Odd and Sissi? They better have a good excuse for missing this mission!_ I think. Mia is using her whip on a Xana Bot, it sparks with white energy. It appears the white energy somehow paralyzing the Xana Bot.

Looking up, I see three other Xana Bots firing at the Sphere. Putting the hunter's knife away, I grab two arrows and I put them on my bow. Drawing them back, I release the arrows at two of the Xana Bots that's attacking the core. The Xana Bots explode.

"Mia! Ulrich!" Aelita exclaims. Looking down, I see another Xana Bot has entered the room. I'm about to grab an arrow from my quiver, when the final Xana Bot that was attacking the Sphere, flies to me. I throw my knife as it fires at me, and the attacks connect at the same time. I start to devirtualize, but as I do, I hear a strange energy that must be coming from Aelita, since Mia and Ulrich doesn't have a power like this.

 **Back inside the scanner**

Opening my eyes, my knees give in as I'm back in the scanner. The scanner's doors open, and I nearly collapse to the ground. Since the laser was shot at me from such a close range, it seems it had a bigger impact on my body. Mia catches me just in time as I see the freight elevator's doors opening.

Jeremy and Yumi climb down from the ladder shoot. Mia and Ulrich help me help. We look at the middle scanner.

"What's going on?" I ask.

"Aelita… she saved the core just in time… but she was devirtualized by the Xana Bot," Jeremy replies.

My heart feels like it's going to break but then the scanner starts making a noise. It opens, and Jeremy runs to the scanner. He pants heavily.

"Hey, do you realize you almost gave me a heart attack?" Jeremy asks. Aelita leaps into Jeremy's arms. She gives him a hug. She laughs gleefully.

"Can someone tell us what happened?" Ulrich asks.

"Now, please," I reply, letting myself relax.

"From what I can tell – not only does Aelita have her own powers now, it seems that if Aelita uses up her life points, she won't disappear forever," Jeremy explains.

"She won't?" Ulrich asks

"How come?" Mia asks.

Jeremy and Aelita stop hugging, but continue to hold each other's hands.

"Of course! I was too dumb to think of it before," Jeremy says looking at us. He then turns to Aelita. "Ever since you've recovered your human memory, you're exactly the same as us. We don't need Code: Earth now to bring you in."

"That'll really help, now that Xana is determined to destroy Lyoko to prevent us from finding him on the net," Aelita says.

"That's great, Aelita! You're a full-fledged Lyoko Warrior from now on," Yumi smiles, giving her a thumbs up. Aelita smiles and blushes. The freight elevator's doors open, and we turn to it. Odd and Sissi walks in.

"Hey guys, sorry we're late," Odd says.

"Did… we miss anything?" Sissi asks.

Mia can't help but laugh a little as the rest of us smile at them.

 _I really hope they have a good excuse,_ I think.

 **Afterwards**

 **Back in the dorms**

 _As it turned out, it took this entire time for Odd and Sissi to convince Principal Delmas to change their schedules. That's why they were missing... so I guess that's a good excuse. At least they got it solved. I imagine they must have made some sort of deal they all agreed on,_ I think.

We're all walking back to our rooms going up the stairs, Yumi said she'll meet us for dinner later. Ulrich and Odd are pretty quiet as we walk up the staircase. Aelita, Mia, and Sissi went ahead of us already. Jeremy did too. Ulrich and Odd wanted to talk to me about something, but we haven't said anything to each other yet.

"You know," I say, breaking the awkward silence, "my hair is blonde again on Lyoko."

"Ulrich mentioned. I told Sissi and she's happy about that," Odd says.

Ulrich rubs his head nervously.

"Say, um, Lila… about the thing I said earlier? That I'd rather not talk about?" Ulrich asks.

I raise an eyebrow. "Yeah Ulrich?" I ask.

"I talked to Odd earlier about this… but I wanted to let you know Yumi and I are just going to be just friends from now on," Ulrich informs. "And that's it," he adds.

"I see… I'm sorry to hear that. Are you going to be okay?" I ask, frustrated with myself for not being able to tell him he and Yumi get married in my future world. I know better though.

"Yeah, I will be," Ulrich replies.

"Of course you will be! You've got me and Kiwi as roommates after all!" Odd exclaims, smiling. Ulrich can't help but chuckle.

 _Don't worry Ulrich. This "just friends and that's it,"_ _phase won't last forever. You'll see,_ I muse. We continue making our way up the stairs.

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside Lila and Aelita's room**

I open the door and I'm surprised to see a bulky computer setup along with a keyboard, mouse, and router on Aelita's desk. She looks at me and smiles while typing on it.

"What's all this?" I ask her, closing the door behind me.

"During the summer break Yumi and her parents figured we'd need a computer. They were kind enough to buy one for me and Jim had delivered it here sometime today. I took the liberty of setting things up just now. It was pretty easy," she explains.

"Wow, that's great," I smile.

 _I wonder what other surprises await me this term?_ I think.

* * *

Fun fact: Aeita's computer isn't shown until a much later episode in season 3. I had to put this part in after the chapter was already written.

* * *

Author's Note:

A small mention about Mary and Future Xana. During season 3, Mary and Future Xana will have what I'll call a "Guest Star," appearance. They will appear when there is room for them.

 **AeroJester203** created the details for Lila's new broomstick.

Odd and Sissi are now officially a couple! :D Their relationship will be throughout Changing Destiny: Lila's Journey! .

Mia's outfit is actually a ninja's outfift! I'd thought it would be funny for her to stand out as a ninja since they are classically dressed in black clothing, but figured white might work better for Mia.

One last thing about our update schedule for Changing Destiny: Lila's Journey!, the fanficiton will be updated every two weeks as usual. However because it is a shorter season there will be times where I'll upload a chapter every three weeks.

Error detected by **Finalcool720,** overboard was a typo as Yumi and Aelita share the Overwing.

* * *

Until the next chapter!

Don't forget to review!

LyokoWarrior1994


	54. Lyoko Minus One

Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is copyrighted by Moonscoop.

* * *

This chapter was written by me. It was edited by **AwesomeFanFictionAuthor.**

* * *

I only own Lila and Mia. Mary is owned by **AeroJester203.** Kayori Avalon is owned by **decode9**.

* * *

 _Lyoko Minus One_

 **POV Lila's**

 _Dear Diary,_

 _It kind of stinks that Yumi and Ulrich are going through the "just friends and that's it," phase but it happened before too. I still remember this one conversation Aunt Yumi told me that she and Ulrich used to be jealous of other people but they never admitted their feelings for each other and remained "good friends" throughout their academic years. One day they'll admit their feelings for each other. I just know it._

 _The computer we have in the room now has been nice too. Especially since I bought a printer for it. It's great for when we have to print out assignments._

 _Sissi and Odd figured out a way to get into the same classes as Jeremy, Aelita, Ulrich, Mia, and myself. Unfortunately, Yumi isn't in any of our classes again, since she's older. We thankfully don't have too much to worry about. But back to Sissi and Odd._

 _The reason they took so long and missed our previous mission (which by the way, Aelita mentioned she gained a new power called an Energy Field) was because Delmas didn't believe Odd being in the same classes as Sissi would help with Sissi's education since her grades have been going up._

 _So they made a deal that if Odd really bunkered down with his grades, and Sissi did the same, the two of them can remain in the same classes. It just took a while for the three of them to reach that agreement._

 _And today, our classes are electing representatives. Jeremy is on the list, as well as Herb. Kayori even told me she put her name on the list too._

 _I usually don't talk politics, but I think I might have to vote for Kayori. Reason being is that Jeremy is too busy with Lyoko and everything else to actually be a class representative._

 _And besides, what kind of girlfriend would I be if I didn't vote for Kayori? I know Sissi is not putting her name in, as she and Odd plan to focus on those grades. Anyways, I should get going to meet the others. Aelita's already gone ahead._

 _Lila._

 **Afterwards**

 **Outside the classroom**

Kayori hands her platform papers to me, Odd, Aelita, Mia, and Sissi. I look them over.

 _More free time or at least a set break during which students can relax._

 _More clubs like bowling and chess. Swimming. Baseball._

 _Allow pets on campus._

"That's… all I have for now, what do you guys think?" Kayori asks, rubbing her neck sheepishly.

"I personally like allowing pets on campus. I'd vote you for that," Odd says.

"Just, um, one question… what exactly is bowling? And baseball?" Aelita asks. Kayori looks at her, surprised.

"Um…" Odd trails off.

"You don't know what bowling is, Aelita? Or baseball? Even I know what they are," Sissi says.

"Well… you should know why I wouldn't know about bowling, Sissi," Aelita says.

"Oh, yeah, right," Sissi says.

"So why don't you know about sports?" Kayori asks, feeling left out.

Aelita is about to give Kayori some sort of an answer, when Jeremy and Ulrich walk in. We look at them.

"Kayori, I just wanted to say good luck," Jeremy says.

"Thanks," Kayori nods. She opens the door to the classroom, and the rest of us follow her in.

 _I just hope she doesn't bring up the conversation again later… nice timing Jeremy,_ I think.

 **Later**

 **In Mr. Fumet's classroom**

Mia is sitting next to me, as Aelita is sitting next to Odd and Sissi today. Ulrich is in the back, saving Jeremy a seat.

Kayori, Herb, and Jeremy are lined up side by side. Kayori has been giving her speech for a good ten minutes, and it looks like she's almost done.

"And that's my platform," Kayori finishes. A few of our classmates clap including Odd, Sissi, and I.

"Herb, you're up next," Mr. Fumet says.

Jeremy, for some reason, looks down at his bag. He then looks back up, concerned about something.

 _I hope Xana isn't attacking… I really need to stay here so I can give my vote for Kayori,_ I think.

"What do you think?" Mia whispers to me, seems she noticed Jeremy, too.

"He could be nervous," I whisper back. "Or it could be trouble."

 **Afterwards**

"And in conclusion, I promise to put pretty plants in each and every one of your classrooms. Won't that be nice, huh?" Herb asks waving. I look at Herb, completely stunned.

 _He… can't be serious, can he?_ I think.

Nicholas is the only one to clap and cheer for his friend. Mia and a few others look at Nicholas who then stops clapping. Jeremy's phone starts ringing and he picks up.

"Yumi?" Jeremy asks, just loud enough for us to hear him. The look on his face changes, and I know what that look means...

"Are you sure?"

Mia and I look at each other, then look at Jeremy firmly.

 _It's Xana… gotta be. Ugh, please forgive me, Kayori,_ I think.

"If you don't mind, Belpois, we're all waiting for you?" Mr. Fumet asks, his arms crossed.

"Yumi, I gotta hang up, but don't worry," Jeremy says. Hanging up his phone, he puts it in his pocket and looks at us.

"Jeremy, if you're still a candidate, please speak up," Mr. Fumet requests.

"Um, see the thing is, sir, I've forgotten my platform. I left them in my room, and I made quite a few copies. Too many, in fact, and I'll need some volunteers to help me bring them back here," Jeremy says.

"We'll help!" Mia, Odd, Sissi, Ulrich, Aelita, and I call out.

Mr. Fumet and Kayori looks at us suspiciously. Mr. Fumet then nods. Mia and I grab our backpacks. Putting them on, the six of us get up and rush out with Jeremy, not even giving me a chance to apologize to Kayori.

 **Outside by the bench**

I sit down next to Jeremy on the bench and he takes his laptop out of his messenger bag. Opening it, he lets it load and a window pops up on his screen, with an alarm, confirming an activated tower.

"Attack confirmed, Xana's activated a tower!" he exclaims. Ulrich already has his phone to his ear.

"Yumi, where are you?" Ulrich asks. There's a short pause, before Ulrich speaks up again.

"Got it, red trails. Be right there," he says, and hangs up. He puts his phone back in his pocket.

"Ulrich, Sissi, Mia, the three of you head to the forest," Jeremy says. Ulrich, Mia, and Sissi nod. The three take off to help Yumi.

"And we'll see what we can do about the activated tower on Lyoko," Jeremy says.

"Okay…" I trail off.

"Lila?" Aelita asks.

"I'm just… going to have to keep this part of my life a secret from Kayori, aren't I?" I ask. Jeremy, Odd, and Aelita look at me concerned. They nod.

"For now. But who knows? Maybe Kayori can become a Lyoko Warrior in the near future," Jeremy says, getting up. He closes his laptop and puts it in the messenger bag.

"Maybe…" I trail off. Putting the messenger bag on, the three of us begin running to the woods.

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside the scanner room**

Odd, Aelita, and I take our respective scanners.

" _The activated tower is in the forest sector,"_ Jeremy informs. The scanners doors close. " _I'll try and get you as close as possible."_

Closing my eyes, I wait for Jeremy to start the process.

" _Transfer: Aelita, Transfer: Odd, Transfer: Lila."_

The scanner starts to spin, and makes a humming sound.

" _Scanner: Odd, Scanner: Aelita. Scanner: Lila."_

The scanner continues spinning.

" _Virtualization!"_

Bright light and wind engulf me, billowing my hair and time machine necklace. I'm virtualized to Lyoko.

 **Lyoko's Forest Sector**

I open my eyes to see Aelita, Odd, and I fall. We land safely on the ground.

"Okay, we're here Jeremy," Odd informs. Looking around, the three of us easily spot the activated tower.

" _The tower is due north, you should be able to see it."_

"Yup, we do, Jeremy," I say.

" _Here's your taxies,"_ Jeremy says.

Jeremy materializes the Overboard and my broomstick. Odd gets on his Overboard, and Aelita gets on with him. I get onto my broomstick, and, kicking it into the air, the two of us take off.

We start flying along the path towards the activated tower.

" _Xana's sending some monsters. How original can you get?"_

Looking down, we spot four Tarantulas that seem to be getting ready to attack.

"He's hates it when we're bored," Odd jokes. "Let's be polite, we'll say hello to them first." Holding onto his waist, Aelita and Odd fly down, and I urge my broomstick to follow them.

"You take the left side, and I'll take the right?" Odd suggests. I nod, and the Tarantulas lift their front legs.

Taking my bow off its hook, I get an arrow from my quiver, giving my broomstick full control. I put the arrow on my bow and the Tarantulas start charging their lasers. Odd cocks his paw, readying his Laser Arrows. I pull the drawstring back and release.

My arrow flies at the Tarantula and hits the Tarantula's target eye before it can fire off any lasers.

The Tarantula explodes. Odd's Laser Arrow easily hit the Tarantula's target eye, but that doesn't faze the Tarantula as easily. I put my bow back on its hook. I'm glad Jeremy has given me at least 20 arrows in my quiver. I normally don't run out, but now I shouldn't at all. We fly past the remaining three. I regain control of the broomstick and quickly make a u turn just as they start firing.

We start flying forward but the Tarantulas fire their lasers off at us more closely than before. We start weaving and dodging throughout the volley wave of lasers.

"Let's turn around!" Odd exclaims.

We fly downward, and continue dodging the lasers. We also have to be careful to not hit any trees along the way. Two separate lasers hit Odd's Overboard, and my broomstick, causing the both of us to lose balance.

We start flying a bit out of control, and get close to striking into a tree. We're able to get our vehicles under control to avoid that tree, but then our vehicles continue to shake and, realizing what's about to happen, Aelita decides to jump off Odd's Overboard.

I stand up on my broomstick, getting ready to jump myself, since I won't be able to glide my broomstick up a tree like I'm sure Odd's Overboard can. Jumping onto the ground, I roll next to Aelita and let my broomstick crash into the tree.

"Aelita, Lila!" Odd exclaims. Looking up, I see Odd has indeed managed to drive his Overboard up the tree.

" _Lila, Aelita! Be careful! Lots of Tarantulas are on their way!"_

Trying to get up, I look to Aelita and see that there are three Tarantulas heading towards her. Slowly getting up, Aelita and I see the Tarantulas lifting their front legs. They start firing off lasers, but Aelita and I dodge them in time.

We continue dodging the lasers and I see Aelita form two balls of spiraling pink energy in her hands. I believe that's her new power she had mentioned to me: energy field. Aelita fires the energy fields in between the Tarantulas. This causes a distraction, and they momentarily stop firing at us. Together we run through the free area, and pass the Tarantulas.

"Jeremy, bring up Sissi's Overbike! We're going to need it!" I exclaim.

" _It's on its way!"_

Jeremy materializes Sissi's Overbike just a few feet ahead of us, and I jump on it first, landing on the seat. Aelita does the same, and she puts her arms around my waist. I rev up the Overbike, and putting my feet on the back pedals, Aelita holds onto my shoulders, we take off into the air.

 **POV Mia's**

Reaching the crossroads, Ulrich, Sissi, and I look to see which direction Yumi would have went. Ulrich looks down and notices a set of footprints heading down the path that look like Yumi's.

"Let's go!" I exclaim. Nodding, Sissi, Ulrich and I take off. We follow the footsteps to try and catch up to Yumi.

 **POV Lila's**

Flying the Overbike, Aelita and I pass through trees and hear Odd's Overboard behind us. He flies to us, and says:

"I barely escaped those Tarantulas."

"Are they following us?" I ask. Aelita turns around and gasps, she then says:

"Lila, Odd! Dive down!"

The two of us dive down, just in time to avoid lasers.

" _Xana's sending in some Hornets! Try to lose them!"_ Jeremy informs.

"Right!" I exclaim. Revving up the Overbike again, I urge it to go beyond its speed capacity, and the Hornets start firing their lasers.

Aelita tells us when to duck, turn, and as we do so, we're suddenly attacked by several lasers that were shot from the front.

Odd loses control of his Overboard again and I lose control of the Overbike. The two of us crash towards the ground, and another laser is shot at Odd, directly this time. He's pushed off his Overboard and is devirtualized in a cloud of pixels.

Aelita and I hit the ground and roll. We hear the legs of a monster approaching us, and see that it wasn't a Tarantula that hit us, but a Krab. The Krab fires another laser at the Overbike, and it dematerializes.

Aelita and I try to make a run for it but then the Hornets show up.

" _Hurry Aelita, use your creativity to create a new path!"_ Jeremy exclaims, concerned.

Aelita is about to start singing when the Krab fires a warning shot at the two of us. We look at the Krab, and, hearing a familiar droning, the Krab moves aside, letting the Scyphozoa through.

"I won't let you get Aelita!" I exclaim. Taking my hunter's knife out of its sleeve, I try to start focusing my powers, but the Krab fires a shot at the hunter's knife and it flies out of my hand. My hand is shocked, causing me to put my other hand on it. The shocking soon stops. One of the Hornets takes the remaining shot dematerializes the knife.

Aelita and I look at each other, concerned. Aelita holds her hand out, and hurls an energy field at the Krab and it explodes. Aelita summons her new power again, and throws an energy field at the Scyphozoa, forcing it to move out of the way.

This gives Aelita and I the chance to run. We make a break for it, but we can hear the Hornets and Scyphozoa close behind us.

"We're almost there, Aelita, maybe we can-" I start to say, but one of the Hornets fires a shot of acid in front of us. This causes Aelita and I to stop, and the Scyphozoa gains on us.

The Scyphozoa reaches out and lifts Aelita off her feet and attaches its front tentacles to her head. The tentacles start glowing red.

" _Lila, please try to come up with something! The Scyphozoa is attacking Aelita!"_

"I know, but they're not letting me make a move! The Hornets have me surrounded!" I exclaim, looking at the Hornets that have me cornered.

 _Think, Lila, think! There's got to be a way to save Aelita… I have electricity powers. I wonder if…. Hey, yeah, that can work!_ I think.

Closing my eyes, I channel my electricity throughout my entire body. I focus the electricity to the palms of my gauntlets and my amulet glows. Breathing in, then out, I release two blasts of electrical energy. The first blasts hit one Hornet, then the second blast hits the other. They explode.

The two remaining Hornets start charging their lasers, but I putt my hands together this time, while still focusing my powers.

I release a large blast of electricity at one Hornet, and then a small blast of electricity at the other Hornet. The two Hornets explode. Getting my hands ready to target the Scyphozoa, I turn to it... but it's too late.

The Scyphozoa releases Aelita and she lands in a crouching position. The Scyphozoa retreats and Aelita gets up, I look at her, concerned.

"Aelita… are you-" I start to say but she turns to me. Opening her eyes, they pulse with Xana's symbol. My eyes widen.

"Jeremy, hurry! Send Odd back in! Aelita's been possessed!" I exclaim. Aelita gets into a fighting position.

" _Right! Odd, you heard her!"_

Aelita suddenly disappears and I start looking for her frantically. I'm then hit in the back of the neck and black out.

 **Afterwards**

 **At the activated tower**

Opening my eyes, I'm on the ground and I watch Aelita enter a tower, phasing into its "doorway."

" _Odd, did you find Lila?"_ Jeremy asks. Looking to my right, I see Odd getting off his Overboard. He runs over to me and offers me his hand.

"Yeah I did, Jeremy, but I have no idea what's going on." I take Odd's hand and he helps me to my feet.

 _Xana… what are you planning? Why bring Aelita to this tower…_ I think, concerned. It's a Way Tower. Why there?

Soon the Way Tower completely disappears. Aelita falls down and hits the ground, hard. Odd and I run over to her. Odd kneels down and puts his hand on her shoulder, to see if she's okay.

"Odd, Lila… what happened to me?" Aelita asks.

"You were possessed by the Scyphozoa Aelita," I reply.

"But… why?" Aelita asks.

"We'll tell you about it later, but right now let's run for it!" Odd exclaims. We look to see that not only has the tower disappeared, but the ground around it, too. And it's spreading!

Getting up, Aelita, Odd, and I start running away from the now disappearing sector.

" _What's happening now?"_ Jeremy asks.

"Jeremy, the sector is disappearing! We need to be rematerialized!" I exclaim.

Odd, Aelita, and I make a turn down a path, passing the activated tower which is swallowed up as well.

 **POV Mia's**

Ulrich, Yumi, Sissi, and I are being lifted in the air with purple electricity. Possessed Jim, Mrs. Hertz, and two possessed students continue use purple electricity on us and the pain is getting worse.

They stop shooting us with electricity and let us fall to the ground. Their eyes pulse with the Xana symbol as the three of us try getting up. I look at Sissi. She seems to really be in pain, her arms shaking as she barely manages to sit upright.

"I can't believe this is it…" Sissi trails off.

 _Come on, please… hurry Aelita…_ I plead, closing my eyes as Ulrich, Yumi, and Sissi, close theirs too.

 **POV Lila's**

Continuing to run from the disappearing sector, Jeremy informs:

" _The activated tower. It's… gone."_

 **POV Mia's**

Jim, Mrs. Hertz, and the other two possessed students all raise their hands, ready to deal the killing blow. We then hear bodies dropping and open our eyes, we sigh in relief. Thankfully the entire class wasn't attacking us all at once... that would have hurt. Badly. Them chasing us wasn't fun either.

"They did it!" Sissi exclaims, relieved. She hugs me, and we look at an unconscious William, who had arrived to help.

"Is he going to be okay?" Sissi asks, letting go of me.

"I'm sure he will be," Yumi replies.

"Yeah, but he's probably not in great shape right now. What about the others?" Ulrich asks.

"I'm calling them right now," Yumi says, taking her phone out. She dials Jeremy's number. She puts her phone on speaker, letting us hear him.

"Jeremy, did you manage to get the tower deactivated?" There's a short pause.

" _I didn't, because the forest sector is in the process of disappearing,"_ Jeremy replies.

"What?!" all of us exclaim, myself included since I have to fake not knowing that information.

 **POV Lila's**

 _I feel like we've been running for a while now! Jeremy really needs to give that rematerialization an upgrade, because it's taking a while!_ I think, as we continue to run down another path. Looking behind us, a giant erasing light of sorts continues to engulf the sector and finally catches up with us. We lose our footing and start to fall.

"Jeremy… help!" Odd screams. Aelita, Odd, and I scream as we fall down.

 _No way, this can't be it!_ I think.

The three of us continue falling, getting closer and closer to the digital sea. Our bodies are so close to hitting the digital sea, but we rematerialize in a cloud of pixels just before we do.

 **Back inside the scanner room**

The scanners doors open. The three of us step out uneasy.

"I don't know what happened," Aelita says.

"Well, for one thing, it was a pretty close call. Otherwise, I don't know what happened either. I do know that I am never going in twice for a long time again. It's rough on the body," Odd mentions.

"Yeah, I know. Hopefully Jeremy can tell us what happened," I say. The three of us start walking towards the freight elevator.

 **POV Mia's**

Sissi, Yumi, Ulrich, and I all get up. We look around to see that Mrs. Hertz, Jim, the two students that also attacked us, and the rest of Yumi's class are starting to wake up. There's a lot of confusion amongst them so I say,

"Yumi, we, um, better get back to school before they start realize why we're here."

"Right, you go on ahead. Sissi, will you be alright?" Yumi asks. Sissi nods.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. A few bruises, but they'll heal."

"Okay, can you guys take William back to where he's supposed to be?" Yumi asks.

"I'll do it," Ulrich says. He goes to William, picks him up, and walks away with him.

"Let's go. And don't worry about my father. I'll come up with an excuse," Sissi says.

"Thanks," I say.

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside the lab**

 **POV Lila's**

Jeremy's run an analysis on exactly what happened to the forest sector, confirming it, he sighs.

"It's no use. The forest sector doesn't exist anymore. Xana has totally wiped it off the map."

"If only I hadn't gone into that way tower, and if only I hadn't punched in that code," Aelita deadpans.

"Don't you see? Xana used you, Aelita. He made sure to use you and take Lila out of commission first, so she wouldn't get in the way. And he launched the attack just to lure us onto Lyoko," Jeremy explains.

"But why would he do that?" Odd asks.

"If the surface sectors disappear, we won't be able to get to Sector Five anymore," Jeremy replies.

"You mean that Xana is going to destroy all the sectors?" Odd asks.

"Sure is," Jeremy replies. "If only I can find a way to materialize you directly into Sector Five. Looks like I've got plenty of work ahead. Say, Lila, I think you can tell Kayori the good news that I'm not going to be running for class rep."

"She's going to be so mad at me for skipping out on her…" I sigh, "and how do you know you won't be class rep?"

"Easy, because we're all going to vote for her," Jeremy replies.

I smile slightly.

 _She'll win for sure… and if I can still vote for her, maybe she won't be too mad at me,_ I think.

 **Afterwards**

 **In Mr. Fumet's room**

"And your newly elected class representative is: Kayori Avalon," Mr. Fumet announces.

All of us cheer and clap for her. Well, all but Herb and Nicholas. Sissi and Mia seem to be pretty happy about Kayori being the new class rep.

"Thanks everyone. I'll be sure to make you proud," Kayori says, smiling. I smile at her and she looks at me, her smile grows.

 **Later that night**

 **POV Mary's**

" _Xana was able to possess Yumi's entire class from what Mia told me. And not a single spectre in sight. It seems he's come up with a new way of possessing people without the use of a spectre,"_ Lila explains.

"That's very peculiar. How is Mia? Is she getting along with Sissi?" I ask, the phone on speaker.

" _Yeah, she is. And… Kayori was a bit angry that I walked out on her. She forgave me, though, so all is well. How about you? How's your recovery going?"_

Looking at my hand, I try to change it into my spectre form, but it returns back to my physical form.

"It's going well," I lie. "Listen, Lila… it's getting late. I should let you go to bed."

" _Okay… good night, Mary. I'll try to stop by soon if I can."_

"I'm sure you will," I say.

"Goodnight Lila."

Letting Lila hang up, I turn the phone off.

 _ **Perhaps you should tell her the truth, Mary**_ , Future Xana suggests.

 _How can I? And besides, it's not like I'm dying or anything. My powers are weakened is all… it's most likely due to the amount of time I was trapped in the Scyphozoa by the current Xana. Since he inflicted so much physical and mental torture on me. Lila did ask about possible side effects,_ I tell him.

 _ **That may be the case. There's still the matter of that child, Mia Dunbar,**_ Future Xana says.

 _She's proven to be a trustworthy person. I'm not sure why you have doubts,_ I say.

 _ **I'm not fond of new people**_ , Future Xana says.

 _I know. If we need to worry about her, we'll do so on another day. Now, what can we do to help my current situation?_ I ask.

 _ **I suggest we try something new. Instead of trying to change into a spectre, try to change into a person. It can be Lila. Mia. Sissi. Anyone you choose. Just begin the process slowly,**_ Future Xana tells me.

 _I understand. I'll try Sissi to start off with. She has an easier look to replicate than both Lila and Mia,_ I say.

 _ **Very well,**_ Future Xana says.

I start the process. I begin with transforming my hand into Sissi's hand.

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside Lila and Aelita's room**

 **POV Lila's**

I sigh, staring up at the ceiling.

"Is something wrong, Lila?" Aelita asks from her bed below.

"No… it's nothing. Probably worrying about nothing. Let's go to bed before Jim does his rounds."

"Okay. Goodnight Lila," Aelita says.

"Goodnight Aelita," I say back and turn to the wall. I close my eyes and try to drift asleep.

* * *

Author's Note: I hope everyone enjoyed Lila's new power! It's similar to Aelita's energy field in some ways but it'll not take away the importance of Aelita's energy field in the fanfiction. Lila will use her power every now and then.

Why is Mary experiencing side effects now and she didn't in the dark saga timeline? The reason: N.A. (Current timeline) Mary, had been trapped inside the Scyphozoa far longer than Mary from the dark saga timeline. But never fear, Mary has Future Xana to coach her and help her through this difficult time.

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Don't forget to review!

LyokoWarrior1994


	55. Tidal Wave

**Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is copyrighted by Moonscoop.**

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This chapter was written by me. It was edited by **AwesomeFanFictionAuthor.**

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I only own Lila and Mia. Mary is owned by **AeroJester203.** Kayori is owned by **decode9.**

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Author's Note: Hi everyone, I want to thank all of you for keeping up with this fanfiction. We have reached, OVER, 15,000 views! I cannot tell you all how happy that makes me. Thank you for being patient with me. A side note about the filler arc - while I may not be able to complete the filler saga by the end of the month like I thought I was going to. I will do my best to get all of the remaining season 1 chapters complete before we reach the end of season 3. Don't forget to read The Adventures of Lila Belpois if you've wondered what exactly happened to Lila in season 1, during the skipped "episodes." The latest chapter in this filler saga is Killer Music.

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Enjoy the chapter!

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 _Tidal Wave_

* * *

 **Inside the lab**

 **POV Lila's**

We are all in the lab having just coming back from Sector Five.

"Okay, all I have to do now is analyze the data you just gathered from sector five," Jeremy says, typing on the keyboard.

"Do you think we can learn anything from it?" Yumi asks.

"I have no idea, but if there's a possibility for finding a clue about how to find Xana on the internet, it's worth a try," Jeremy answers, determined. He continues typing.

"Well, I don't know about you guys. But something to eat would really hit the spot," Odd says.

"Forget about it, Odd. We can't be late for gym," Ulrich reminds.

Odd's eyes widen.

"Huh? But we haven't had breakfast yet."

"Too late," Ulrich says, in a sing song voice.

"You'll be fine, Odd. Besides, it's only breakfast," Mia says.

"Yeah, and we can't be late because my father will blame you for it. He was kind enough to forgive us the last time," Sissi mentions.

"Okay…" Odd pouts.

"If anything, Odd, this means you can eat twice as much during lunch," I tell him.

"True," Odd smiles slightly.

 **Later that morning**

 **Inside the gymnasium**

We're all sitting on the bleachers and Odd is sitting, eyes closed, with his arms crossed over his stomach. His stomach rumbles loudly.

"Hey, Odd, could you cool it for a second?" Ulrich asks.

"He's right, your stomach is almost as talkative as you are," Aelita mentions.

"Now listen, if I don't get something to eat, there's no telling what I might do," Odd warns.

"Hey Odd, did you forget that you just had a chocolate bar five minutes ago?" Jeremy asks.

"Not to mention the fruit roll up I grabbed from mine and Mia's room for you," Sissi reminds. Odd opens his eyes.

"Those were nothing. They were just warm ups," he complains. "I need some real food to get me going in the morning."

"Like some beans or potatoes. Or a banana or two for dessert," Ulrich jokes.

Jim suddenly opens the doors.

"I know you kids are going to be disappointed, but it looks like I'm going to have to cancel today's shot put competition," Jim announces.

"Yeah, way to go!" Ulrich, Odd, Aelita, Sissi, and Mia exclaims in unison.

 _Aw dang… I actually wanted to try,_ I think.

Kayori and the other students are just as happy, and Jim walks in the gym.

"Quiet down. Actually, since today is nutrition day, our school nurse Yolanda Perraudin is going to speak to you, and tell you what you should eat," Jim explains. He raises his hand, and Miss Yolanda enters the gym. She walks over to him.

"In order to have a great shape. I – mean to keep in shape," Jim corrects himself.

Miss Yolanda unfolds a paper she is holding in her hands, and Jim places his hand on her shoulder. He smiles and chuckles, she clears her throat. He removes his hand from her shoulder and smiles gleefully, before chuckling again. He crosses his arms, and Miss Yolanda sighs. He lifts a finger.

"For those of you who can't wait until you wolf down your next junk food meal," he says, before pointing at us. "Had better think twice before you do!" he exclaims, and gets in front of Miss Yolanda. "Because junk food is your worst enemy!"

"Unless your name is Odd. His worst enemy is whoever gets between him and his food," Ulrich jokes.

"Better believe it," Odd agrees.

 **Afterwards**

"And so, for example, for lunch if you have mash potatoes and lamb, there's no need for steak and fries at night," she explains.

"What is she talking about anyway? If I eat mashed potatoes and lamb, there's no reason to wait for dinner. I can have steak and fries for dessert," Odd mentions.

"Not much of a dessert, Odd," Sissi tells him.

"Yeah, Odd, it wouldn't kill you to eat a little bit healthier you know," I say.

"Oh, and how would you know?" Odd retorts.

"Well if anything Odd, you'd better hope we don't get a test on what she'd said, because you'd get a zero for sure, Odd," Ulrich jokes.

"So," Jim speaks up.

"Hm?" Ulrich asks, getting turned back into the conversation.

"Don't forget that a head of lettuce can save your life. And remember, the better you eat, the better you live. Look at me," Jim says, laughing lightly and lifting his hands in the air. "I'm an example of what good food can do."

Jim starts moving his hands then jumps ahead a little and lands on the floor safely.

"I'm in perfect shape," he laughs. He starts moving his arms, doing some stretches. He bends his legs down and we hear a crack.

 _Oof, that sounded like it hurt,_ I think.

Jim tries to contain his pain. "Ow- ow I just pulled something. Yolanda – help. I can't move."

 _If Jim is in great shape… then maybe we shouldn't let Odd eat healthy,_ I think. Miss Yolanda sighs again and face palms herself.

"Okay Odd, it's finally time for lunch-" Jeremy starts to say, but we turn to see Odd has already left.

"Odd?" Jeremy asks. I look to where he was sitting. Sissi and Mia do too.

"Wow, he must have really been hungry," Sissi says.

"I guess we should get going then," Mia suggests. We nod.

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside the cafeteria**

I grab a tray, and Ulrich looks bored as he watches Odd talk to Rosa, who cut in line.

"So Rosa, what do we got today? Shepherd's pie? Sausages and fries? Beef stew? Huh?" Odd asks.

"Odd, I didn't want to, but they said I had to cook healthier and well-balanced meals from now on," Rosa replies.

"What?" Odd asks, surprised. He looks at the plates of food.

"Grated carrots, cucumbers, steamed vegetables, and- and- fish?!" Odd exclaims.

"Not even fried or breaded," Rosa replies, scooping up the slice of fish and giving it to Odd.

 **Afterwards**

Odd is already at the table, with a disappointed look on his face. I sit down next to Sissi. Mia is sitting in between Odd and Jeremy. Yumi is sitting next to me, and Aelita is at the end of the table, next to Jeremy. I took some grated carrots and some tea which thankfully is deemed healthy enough to keep. I skipped the fish though.

"I love broccoli," Ulrich jokes, sitting down next to me.

"Say that again, and your dead fish," Odd complains.

"Would any of you like to go the lab with us?" Jeremy asks.

"I'm sorry, I can't go with you," Yumi replies. "I've got Italian," she explains.

"No big deal," Jeremy says. "We're just going to analyze all that data you brought back from sector five."

"How about the rest of you? Do you want to come?" Aelita asks.

Odd spits out some of his fish and into the plate, it doesn't seem like he's finishing the rest of his meal.

"No. Ulrich, you come with me. I need you," Odd says.

"Oh, you do, huh?" Ulrich asks.

"Yeah, let's go," Odd replies. He takes his tray and Ulrich sighs. He takes his tray and leaves with Odd.

"We'll go with you, right, Sissi?" Mia asks.

"Yeah. What about you Lila?" Sissi asks.

I look over to Kayori who seems to be chatting with her roommate Emily. I then look back at them.

"Yeah, come on, let's go," I say. I take sip of my tea and sigh, before picking my tray up as the others do too. I hate to waste food... but this is important.

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside the lab**

The freight elevator's doors open. Aelita, Jeremy, Mia, and I enter the lab.

"What do you think the internet looks like?" Aelita asks. We walk to the computer monitor.

"I don't know, but I guess we're going to find out," Jeremy says. A window pops up on the screen. Jeremy's super scan starts running.

"I take it Xana's up to no good," Sissi surmises. We walk closer to the computer monitor and the super scan confirms an activated tower, the alarm going off.

"Oh no," Jeremy sighs.

"Don't worry too much, Jeremy. The three of us should be able to get Aelita close enough to the tower, and if we need help, you can always get the others. Plus, they'll probably need to stay at the school anyways if there's an attack there," I say.

"True. Well, at any rate, I should let the others know to keep their eyes out for any signs," Jeremy says. Jeremy sits down on his chair. He begins typing on the keyboard and he pulls up the other's contact information. He types in SOS to Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich, and tells them to stay alert. He also mentions that the four of us will be going in first, and if there's a problem, we'll call for them.

"Okay, now that's done. The four of you head to the scanners," Jeremy says.

"Right," Mia says. He takes his headset earpiece, and puts it on. He adjusts the mic part.

 **Lyoko's Mountain Sector**

I'm virtualized to Lyoko first and Jeremy materializes my broomstick. I surprisingly land safely on the broomstick, and notice that the broomstick is now equipped with a saddle-like seat.

"I like it, nice job Jeremy," I compliment.

" _Thanks. Here come the others,"_ Jeremy informs.

Sissi, Aelita, and Mia are next to virtualize. Jeremy materializes Sissi's Overbike, and Mia's Overboard. Sissi and Aelita land on Sissi's Overbike, with Sissi at the front. Mia lands safely on her Overboard, and together the three of us take off, once I kick my broomstick into the air. We start flying and pass by a mountain.

" _The activated tower is a little further north,"_ Jeremy informs.

We fly downwards and onto a windy path, heading north.

" _Watch out. Xana's sent some Krabs after you."_

We continue onto the path, and stay alert as we drive further along it.

"We'll keep our eyes out. I can't attack and drive at the same time though, so Aelita, if you can, I'll need you to. Okay?" Sissi asks.

"Got it, Sissi," Aelita answers.

Krabs start firing their lasers and we continue along the path. Getting towards the end of it, we turn and drive along a shorter path passing another mountain. We lose sight of the two Krabs that were firing at us, but then another Krab fires shots off ahead of us. Looking back, I see the Krabs from before are starting to get closer.

The three of us look at each other and nod before flying down and under the path. We fly our vehicles along the side of the mountainous path, with the Krabs still in pursuit.

We continue flying, and then Mia speeds up her Overboard by tilting her weight. She does a sort of up curve, before jumping off the Overboard. This surprises all of us, and opening her pouch she quickly takes a kunai from it and throws it at the Krab that's ahead of the two other Krabs. The kunai hits the ground, causing the Krab to stop. Mia lands quickly back onto her Overboard, and balances herself, before Sissi brings her Overbike up.

I follow them, urging my broomstick up and looking behind her. We fly upwards and start heading towards the Krabs. We fly a little too close the Krab but Mia takes her whip out. She uses her whip, and it wraps itself around the Krab's legs, paralyzing the Krab with its white energy.

The Krabs aren't able to break free, and just before we start fixing our position to head onto the path, Aelita holds her hand out and summons her energy field.

"Energy field!" she exclaims. She launches it at the tamed Krab, and the energy field hits the Krab, shocking the Krab. Mia releases her whip and the Krab explodes. Sissi revs up her Overbike making it go faster, causing Aelita to yelp a bit, as her Overbike leaves a pink trail behind. We try to go faster and evade the remaining Krabs that are firing at us.

The Krabs continue chasing us and we keep evading their lasers, while driving along the path. We turn to another shorter path, and pass by another mountain. The lasers nearly hit Aelita and Sissi, causing Aelita to yelp before the three of us bring our vehicles higher up. We reach the mountain top, and spot the activated tower not too far from here.

Aelita holds out her hand and summons her energy field.

"Energy field!" Aelita exclaims. She launches it at the Krab, and it explodes. We circle around the mountain, trying to lose the last Krab, and we head along the path that'll lead the tower.

"Tower's in sight Jeremy," I inform.

" _Well done, ladies,"_ Jeremy compliments.

"Wait a second, Jeremy," Aelita says. "Something feels weird."

Continuing toward the path, we take a turn to an open space where Aelita seems to notice something.

"The digital sea seems to have risen all of a sudden," she informs. We decide to start flying higher.

" _What's going on over there?"_

Aelita, Sissi, Mia, and I look around and see that the digital sea has swallowed up the mountainous path we were on. It continues to swallow everything, including the remaining Krab. The Krab malfunctions and disappears in a burst of light.

"This can't be good…" Sissi gulps a bit.

"It's definitely not," Mia sighs.

" _Well, you're all right, it's not. The digital sea is going way up and that's not normal."_

Looking down, the digital sea has now risen close to our vehicles. I urge my broomstick a little higher, to avoid my feet from touching the digital sea.

" _Another one of Xana's tricks,"_ Jeremy says.

The four of us continue driving towards the activated tower, as the digital sea continues to engulf the sector.

"If this continues to happen then, do you mean lyoko will be submerged and disappear completely?" Mia asks.

" _No, it won't disappear. Lyoko's sectors aren't affected by the digital sea. But it will get submerged unless I can lower the sea level,"_ Jeremy replies. There's a short pause before he says:

" _Oh no! Monsters are heading for the chamber of the core of Lyoko. Xana's trying to stop you from deactivating the tower and from accessing sector five by raising the level of the digital sea! And that's precisely how he plans to quietly wipe out lyoko. You've got to get to sector five before the sea swallows up the mountain sector. But first, take care of the tower."_

We finally arrive at the activated tower, only for it to be swallowed up by the digital sea.

"We're too late Jeremy! The tower's not accessible. I think now would be a good time to call the others, we may need help when we're at the core," I say.

" _I'll try to reach them. You try to reach the end of the sector."_

"We're on it!" Sissi exclaims. Sissi, Mia, and I take off, making our vehicles go faster. We continue on driving to the end of the sector, when the digital sea level starts rising again.

"Jeremy, the sea is getting higher and higher. I'm not too sure we'll make it all the way to the edge of the sector," Mia says, concerned. We keep driving, and I fly just a little higher again to avoid my feet from touching the digital sea.

"Yeah, and I'm getting worried that I'm going to be swallowed up because my broomstick doesn't have proper feet protection!" I exclaim, worried.

" _I'll have to remember to add in that feat_ _ure, but now's not the time. The four of you have got to make it there for the transporter,"_ Jeremy says. Seeing a mountain higher up, the three of us drive upwards. Aelita holds onto Sissi as we fly up and reach the mountain top.

" _Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd should be there soon to help."_

"Well, that's good," Mia says, as we pass over the mountain top and drive along a new path. Hearing some faint buzzing coming from behind us, I say:

"Jeremy, please tell me I'm not hearing what I think I'm hearing."

" _If you're hearing a buzzing noise, then yes. Xana's sending Hornets."_

"Figured," I sigh.

The Hornets surround us, and Sissi takes her Baton in one hand, while leaving her other hand to drive the Overbike. I raise my hand, and focus my electricity throughout my body. Aelita raises her hand, and summons her energy field. Mia takes her whip out and twirls the Overboard, as she focuses her attention on the Hornets.

The Hornets starts firing their lasers at Aelita and Sissi. Sissi twirls her Baton, and reflects the lasers from the Hornets that are attacking them.

My lightning bolt amulet finally glows, and my hand is charged with electricity. Focusing on the two Hornets in front of me that release their lasers, I unleash an electric blast at both of the Hornets. I fly upwards, and the lasers miss me. My electric blast hits one of the Hornets in the Target eye, and the other Hornet flies over to Mia.

The one I hit is shocked and then explodes. Mia throws several shuriken at the Hornets she's facing off. Aelita throws her energy field at one of the Hornets that surrounds her and Sissi, but she misses. The shuriken Mia threw hits two of the Hornet's target eye. The two Hornets explode and the remaining Hornet that was with me, fires at Mia. One of Aelita's Hornets hits Sissi too, and together Mia and Sissi fall off their vehicles, screaming.

"Jeremy, hurry!" I exclaim.

" _I'm on it! I'm bringing them back in now!"_

Aelita takes control of the Overbike before it goes off balance, and I fly to her with my broomstick. The two of us nod and fly down to Mia and Sissi, who are still screaming as they fall. Aelita holds her hand out and summons her energy field, I hold my hand out as well. Letting my electric powers flow through me, my lightning bolt amulet glows. Aelita and I launch our attacks on Sissi and Mia. Aelita's energy field and my electric blast hits them in time. They devirtualize in a cloud of pixels before the digital sea has a chance to swallow them whole. Aelita and I fix our vehicles upward, and fly higher so we can get back on track.

" _Well done, you two. You were much faster. Hang on until now until Odd comes."_

"What about Yumi and Ulrich?" I ask.

" _They're having some trouble in the factory,"_ Jeremy replies. " _I've sent Mia and Sissi to help."_

Aelita and I resume our driving, and the remaining four Hornets catch up to us. They continue firing at us, and we fly back down onto the path. Aelita revs up Sissi's Overbike, and she goes a bit faster. I urge my broomstick to go faster and it does too. However, several lasers fire at our vehicles, knocking Aelita and I off. We scream and tumble onto the ground, before kneeling back up.

"Energy field!" Aelita exclaims, summoning her energy field. She launches it at a Hornet, and gathering electricity to my hand, my lightning bolt amulet glows. Charged up, I launch an electric blast at another Hornet. Our attacks hit two of the Hornets, but the remaining Hornets fire a laser at us. The two lasers hit us before we can dodge them, and we fly back. Our chests starts sparking, and we nearly slide off the edge of the path, the digital sea is just a few inches below us.

Aelita and I look at the digital sea, and shake our heads. We get up and I run in front of Aelita, holding my hands out ready to take the lasers from the remaining Hornets. They're about to fire when:

"Laser Arrows!" Odd exclaims, shooting off two laser arrows. Each of the Hornets are hit, and I lower my hands in relief. We look up at Odd, whose just arrived on his Overboard. We sigh in relief.

"You can relax you two, I'm here to the rescue!" he exclaims, flying down towards us.

" _Okay Odd, play the hero later. But for now, get into position, I'm typing in the code: Scipio."_

Odd gets off his Overboard, which flies away, and we get into position. The Transporter Orb floats down, appearing from out of nowhere.

 _I can't help but wonder where this thing actually enters the sector from,_ I think. The Transporter Orb opens and scoops us all up, taking us to Sector Five.

 **POV Sissi's**

Mia and I have just arrived on the factory floor, the freight elevator's hangar door opening. We walk out and see a can of soda on the floor. I notice the pile of food that's just ahead of us, and I kick the can over to it.

"That's really weird, what's this pile of food doing here? And where are Ulrich and Yumi?" I ask, concerned.

"Well, Jeremy did say they were in the sewers… but something doesn't feel right here," Mia replies.

Looking at the pile food, we look up and see that it is now beginning to move. The two of us gasp.

"Attack by food… well, that's a new one," I comment.

 **Sector Five**

 **Arena Room**

 **POV Lila's**

The Transporter Orb opens and drops us off. Everything in the room starts spinning.

"We're inside, Jeremy," Odd informs. "What's the latest?"

" _The latest is all of Lyoko has been submerged in the digital sea."_

"Do you think we can bring the level down?" Aelita asks.

The room starts slowing down.

" _I hope so, thanks to the information you're going to find for me. If not, we won't be able to deactivate the tower. You've got to reach the chamber at the core of Lyoko or its bye bye to our beautiful virtual world forever."_

"We won't let that happen," I say, determined. Everything aligns, and the the doorway opens Aelita, Odd, and I run to the doorway, and then run out of it. we make our way towards the second set of walls. They open up on separate sides at first, and then continue to form in a barrel like position. We start leaping on each set of wall.

" _And don't forget to stop the countdown, huh?"_

"No sweat, Einstein," Odd says.

" _Oh no? Then how come I'm sweating?"_

 **POV Sissi's**

 **Inside the factory**

"I can't – believe, we're being chased by food!" I exclaim, panting as Mia and I run from the possessed food.

"I know, but less talk and more hustle!" Mia exclaims. Mia speeds up, and I try speeding up too, but the devirtualization really took a lot out of me.

The food continues chasing us throughout the factory, almost running now.

"Mia, Sissi, hang on!" Yumi exclaims, as she and Ulrich, on the higher level, run to catch up to us.

"Do something you guys, we can't outrun this thing forever!" Mia exclaims.

"We're trying, just hang in there!" Ulrich exclaims. He and Yumi pass by a pillar, and, looking at them, they seem to have gotten some metal poles.

We continue running, but the possessed pile of food is catching up to us. We trip over some of it and fall on our backs. The pile of forms two hands, and presses them together. It then raises its hands, ready to attack.

 _Odd, If I live through this, and if I hear you complain about not eating junk food again, I'll force feed you vegetables!_ I think, scared for my life. Mia and I hear screaming, as Ulrich and Yumi fly down with their poles. They attack the possessed food monster together, causing some of the food to break off.

"Amazing teamwork!" Mia exclaims. They start swinging their poles, almost digging through the food. They continue doing this, and finally reach the ground.

"You actually caught that junk pile, well done," I compliment.

"I wouldn't call it an unconditional surrender," Ulrich says.

"More like a forced surrender," Yumi jokes. We smile at her before the food starts to reform and pile up again.

 **Sector Five**

 **At the elevator**

 **POV Lila's**

"It's okay, Jeremy, we've passed the core zone. We're on the elevator," Aelita informs.

" _Better hurry. The monsters have started to attack the core of Lyoko,"_ Jeremy informs.

The elevator fixes itself to the floor and brings us to the door entrance to the celestial dome. It then fixes itself to floor again.

"We've made it, Jeremy," I inform.

"We're coming into the celestial dome," Odd says. The doors open and the three of us start running.

 **Celestial Dome**

" _Good. Aelita, head to the interface. You've got to get me the data I need for the digital sea. Odd, Lila, you two head to the core of Lyoko,"_ Jeremy decides. We run on the bridge and Aelita reaches the data interface first. It pops up and she starts pressing her hands on it, going through the files.

"We're on it!" Odd exclaims. Odd's Overboard, and my broomstick materialize. We get onto our vehicles, and I think:

 _Broomstick, go!_

My broomstick starts and I take off with Odd.

 _Normally, Aelita, I'd be concerned with leaving you there by yourself._ _But with your energy field, and the fact that you can devirtualize just like us, I'm not too worried,_ I think.

 **POV Sissi's**

Yumi and Ulrich are hiding behind a pillar, holding up their metal poles as the possessed food monster continues to search for us. Mia and I are just across from Yumi and Ulrich, hiding behind a pillar since we have no weapons at all to defend ourselves.

"Just so you both know, thanks a lot. For saving our lives," I say.

"Yeah, I mean who knows what would have happened if you two didn't arrive in time," Mia says.

"Let's just be glad that we were," Yumi says.

 **Chamber of the core of Lyoko**

 **POV Lila's**

Odd and I fly into the dome, before it closes again. We reach the first step and hop off our vehicles.

" _How about you two? What's going on?"_

Odd starts using both his feet and paws to climb up the steps. I leap from one step to another.

"Everything's cool," Odd informs.

"By cool, he means we'll let you know," I say and leap up another step, catching up to Odd. Odd and I continue climbing up the steps, and we soon reach the top and enter the chamber. We look up and see more than a few Mantas, along with two Xana Bots attacking the core.

"Lila and I are in the chamber of the core of Lyoko," Odd informs. Odd's stomach surprisingly starts rumbling. He covers his stomach.

"I know I said everything's cool, but I'm still dying of hunger," Odd complains.

"Odd…. It's a good thing you can't puke on Lyoko. Focus on the core, and not your stomach," I order him.

I take my hunter's knife out of its sleeve. Focusing my powers to the soles of my feet, my lightning bolt amulet glows and the soles of my feet are surrounded with yellow electricity.

" _Lila's right. Remember, if the sphere goes, Lyoko goes too. Forever!"_

"Thanks Jeremy, nothing like a little encouragement!" Odd says, before leaping onto another step. With my electrical powers giving me extra juice, I leap higher than one step. Two out of the three Mantas fire a laser at the core, and then they fly down to us. Continuing to use my electrical powers, I leap almost a bit faster than Odd. He and I keep climbing up the steps. The mantas that flew down fire two lasers at us. Odd and I easily dodge them.

We continue dodging them, by leaping and twirling into the air. We touch the floor, but are nearly pushed at the edge of the step as two lasers almost got us. I lose my concentration and my electrical powers disperse. We look up at the Mantas and two Xana Bots attacking the core.

"I think Lila and I found our diving board," Odd says, looking down. The two Mantas had flown down, and I can hear their droning from below. I look at Odd.

"Odd you're not going to-" I start to say, but he gets ready and backs up a bit. He jumps off the step, in an almost diving position, and screams. I sigh and do the same. As I fall, I take out my hunter's knife. Odd claws onto his Manta first, causing a glow to radiate from within. Reaching my Manta as it's about to take a shot at me, I drive my hunter's knife into the target.

The hunter's knife slashes the Manta down, but I don't let go of it. I mount the Manta and use the hunter knife to fly it up, following Odd who is ahead. We fly all the way up and, circling the core, we try to find a good position to take care of the rest of the creatures. Odd's ride becomes a bit unbalanced, and my Manta starts trying to shake me off, too. Odd fires a couple of Laser Arrows in each paw, defeating his Manta, he jumps off it.

I guide my Manta over to the steps, and drive my hunter's knife completely through. I jump off it, and land on the same step Odd is on. Together, our Mantas fly up, and then explode. I start gathering my electricity powers throughout my body, and concentrating them to my hands.

"We're here, Jeremy," Odd informs.

" _That's great, but the core can't hold out much longer. Okay, move it."_

"We're on it," I say, and my lighting bolt amulet glows. Charged up, I raise one of my hands at one of the Xana Bots.

 _You might be fast, but you're not faster than lightning,_ I think. I fire an electricity blast at the Xana Bot firing at one side of the core. My electricity blast hits the Xana Bot's target eye, shocking it, and the Xana Bot explodes.

"Nice one," Odd compliments before cocking both of his paws, readying his Laser Arrows. The last Xana Bot stops firing at the core, and flies over to us. It starts charging its laser.

 **POV Sissi's**

Still hiding behind the pillars, the food monster has yet to find us. Suddenly, my phone starts ringing. I take it out of my pocket, seeing that it's Jeremy, and sigh. I end the call.

"Talk about lame timing," I say.

"Yeah, you think the monster heard that?" Mia asks.

"One way to find out," Ulrich replies. The four of us nod. We walk out of our hiding spots and into the middle of the floor where we can be seen.

"Nothing yet, this is really weird," Yumi comments. She and Ulrich are still gripping onto their metal poles, but nothing happens.

"Yeah, it's as if the creature is gone," Ulrich says.

Suddenly, an apple and a couple other fruits start dropping from above. Mia, Yumi, and I gasp.

"It looks like you spoke too soon," Yumi says.

A lot of food starts pouring down on us, causing Ulrich to gasp. Yumi and Ulrich get into a fighting position. The food monster has created a big pile of food closing us in.

"I'll distract it. You three, head back to the lab," Ulrich decides, gripping his metal pole.

Yumi and Mia takes off, I look at Ulrich with concern before taking off, myself. The three of us continue running, but I hear something following us from behind and the food surrounds us. It splits itself from the original source and forms into a different food monster. We gasp at the sight.

"It's not distracted too easily, is it?" Ulrich asks.

"I can't believe it," I say, exasperated. "We're going to be devoured by food. Talk about irony…"

 **POV Lila's**

Having pushed Odd to the floor, the Xana Bot fires a laser at me. The laser hits me and I fly back, my chest sparking.

" _Lila, you just lost 40 life points! Be careful!"_

Odd gets up, and fires off a few Laser Arrows at the distracted Xana Bot. the Laser Arrows hit the Xana Bot, and it explodes. Odd runs over to me and helps me up.

"Thanks," I say.

"No problem. Jeremy, how much time do Lila and I have left?" Odd asks, looking up.

" _Just a few seconds,"_ Jeremy replies, concerned.

"Okay, the faster Lila and I finish here, the faster I can eat," Odd says. We look up at the two remaining Mantas that are still attacking the core. The Mantas stop firing at the core, and turn to us. Grabbing my bow, I take it off its hook and notch an arrow. I pull the drawstring back, and Odd readies his Laser Arrows. The Mantas start flying at us, and, getting a good aim at their target eye, Odd and I launch our attacks. Odd's Laser Arrows fly as fast as my arrow. Our attacks hit the Mantas and the Mantas explode.

Odd and I take a collective sigh, I put my bow back on its hook.

" _Well done, you two!"_

"Thanks, did Aelita get the data?" I ask.

" _She did, I'm working on it now. The digital sea should return to normal soon. Aelita, Odd, and Lila, you three have got to get to the activated tower ASAP,"_ Jeremy says.

"We'll get Aelita. What about the others?" Odd asks.

" _Still nothing. Not a word,"_ Jeremy replies.

 **POV Sissi's**

We managed to create our own opening and got away from the second food monster. The three of us continue running from the second food monster as we try and find another hiding spot before it can find us again.

"Over there!" Yumi whispers, and points to a ladder we can use to climb up to the higher spots of the factory. Mia starts climbing up first, and I follow her up. Yumi keeps a look out for the second food monster.

 **POV Lila's**

 **Lyoko's Mountain Sector**

Odd is flying on Ulrich's Overbike, and I'm using Sissi's Overbike. Aelita is holding onto Odd's shoulders. Flying over the path, we see the activated tower. We also see two Tarantula's raising their front legs. They start firing a volley wave of lasers.

"Lyoko's not the only thing that's resurfaced," Odd says. "Ready to jump?" he asks Aelita.

"Uh huh," Aelita replies. Odd revs up Ulrich's Overbike, and I rev up Sissi's Overbike. Our Overbikes leave their usual trail of colors behind, and following Odd's lead we fly down to where the Tarantulas are. Reaching the mountainous path, we skid our vehicles onto the ground and, all of us jump and Aelita tumbles onto the path. Odd and I tumble too, but Odd is more happy about it as the Overbikes slide across to the Tarantulas.

The Overbikes hit the Tarantulas, and everything explodes, clearing a path for Aelita. Aelita gets up and starts running to the tower. Odd and I get up, we smile at her.

"Nice work," I compliment.

"Thanks you too," Odd says.

We watch Aelita reach the tower, and slowly walk into it, phasing into the tower's "doorway."

 **POV Sissi's**

Having reached the higher level of the factory, we try dodging the food that is being used against us. From afar, I see the first monster has grabbed Ulrich and lifts him up.

"Guys!" he exclaims, worried.

The second food monster continues to bombard us with food, causing the three of us to stumble and fall off from the level. We scream, as we fall down.

 **POV Lila's**

 **Inside the lab**

Odd and I walk out of the freight elevator, and into the lab.

"Well?" Odd asks. We walk over to Jeremy. He's typing on the keyboard, presumably preparing for a return to the past, just in case. He then takes out his phone.

"Sissi, someone. I don't believe this, pick up," he says, dialing I assume, Sissi number.

 _Please be alright…_ I think, concerned.

 **POV Sissi's**

My cell phone seemed to have fallen out of my pocket during the chase, as it rings above the food that has covered us. Yumi, Mia, and I get up. Looking at the food, it seems… normal. I take my phone, answering it, and put it to my ear.

"Jeremy?" I ask.

" _Are all of you okay?"_ Jeremy asks, concerned.

"Yeah, I think we are," I reply. Ulrich pops back up.

"Yumi, Mia, how about you? Are you okay?" I ask.

"I am," Yumi replies.

"Same here," Mia says.

"Ulrich, you okay?" Yumi asks.

"Yeah. Bon appetite, Odd," Ulrich says, taking an apple and eating it.

 **POV Lila's**

Looking at the security camera's footage, we see Ulrich happily eat the apple.

"I don't believe it. Well, now we've got to launch a return to the past because there's no way Jim will keep the secret of what he saw in the lunchroom," Odd says.

"Right, here we go," Jeremy says. He presses the enter key, and a big white bubble comes out of the holosphere.

"I'm so hungry!" Odd exclaims. We're engulfed and brought back in time.

 **The Same Day  
**

 **Later that night**

 **POV Mary's**

Having finally transformed into Sissi, I smile at the mirror as I had feared I wasn't going to be successful.

 _ **Well done. It seems you're improving. Now take a break, and we'll focus more on training your body to transform into other people besides Sissi,**_ Future Xana says.

"I understand," I say, and revert back to my human form. I look at the mirror and smile. It seems like things are returning to normal at last.

* * *

Don't forget to review!

LyokoWarrior1994


	56. Tamagotchi

**Di** **sclaimer: Code Lyoko is copyrighted by Moonscoop.**

* * *

This chapter was written by me. It was edited by **AwesomeFanFictionAuthor.**

* * *

I only own Lila and Mia. Mary is owned by **AeroJester203.** Kayori is owned by **decode9.**

* * *

 _Tamagotchi_

* * *

 **POV Lila's**

I hear the faint sound of the copy of my father's laptop beeping. Sighing, I get out of my bed and pull the covers off me. I climb down the ladder quietly and walk over to my desk. I look at Aelita who's still sound asleep. I pull my second drawer open and take out my father's laptop. Opening the laptop, the screen loads automatically. It looks like the Super Scan picked up an activated tower. I go to my first drawer and open it.

Taking out a pen and a sticky note, I'm about to write down the coordinates of the tower but the laptop doesn't show an activated tower anymore. I raise my eyebrow.

 _That's… weird. Was it my imagination or did the Super Scan really pick up an activated tower?_ I think. I check my phone on the desk, it's 12:03.

 _Maybe I imagined it. Probably should get going back to bed. Hope the others are getting some sleep… especially cause of what Ulrich told us yesterday, ever since Odd got this hand-held video game called a Tamagotchi, Ulrich mentioned he's been woken up by it. I should get everything back to where it was, so I don't wake Aelita. I would hate to be that type of person,_ I think, and I close the laptop quietly.

 **The Next Day**

 **Early in the morning**

I'm on the lookout as Jeremy opens the door to Odd and Ulrich's room. Ulrich quietly takes Odd's Tamagotchi from Odd's bed. He walks over to Aelita, who hands it to Sissi who then hands it to Yumi.

"I'll take care of this," Yumi whispers.

"Are you sure Hiroki can handle it?" Mia whispers back.

"I am," Yumi answers and Ulrich ushers us away before we give Odd the chance to wake up. Nodding, all of us leave and Ulrich closes the door.

 _Sorry Odd, had to be done,_ I think.

 **Later**

 **Inside the cafeteria**

"Jean-Pierre isn't any old Tamagotchi pet, he's only a few months old. He's very fragile. Would you abandon a helpless baby, Jeremy?" Odd asks.

"If he was just plastic? I sure would," Jeremy answers.

"We've got to go look for him right away," Odd says, slamming his fist on his tray of food.

"I think it would be a lot better to wait," Ulrich suggests.

"Yeah, Odd. I mean it's just plastic, like Jeremy said. Besides, if we're going to keep dating, you need less distractions so you can keep your grades up," Sissi reminds.

"I know, but still… and wait for what, Ulrich?" Odd asks.

"For you to buy another one," Ulrich chuckles. Jeremy laughs as well, I can't help but feel a bit guilty. Mia and Sissi don't laugh either.

"Oh, I get the picture now. I thought good friends, and a girlfriend, were supposed to be there when you needed them. But I guess I was mistaken!" Odd exclaims, getting up.

All of us look at him, concerned. He leaves his tray, and his food which wasn't touched. He goes to leave the cafeteria. Once he's out of the cafeteria, Sissi speaks up.

"Maybe we shouldn't have given the Tamagotchi to Yumi," Sissi says.

"Maybe, but you said it yourself, Sissi. He needs less distractions in order to keep his grades up so that the two of you can keep dating," Mia reminds.

"True…" Sissi trails off. Aelita finally arrives and sits down next to me. She looks at us and the empty seat where Odd left his tray of food.

"Where's Odd?" Aelita asks.

"Oh, he left in a fit over his Tamagotchi. He'll get over it," Ulrich replies.

"You think so?" Aelita asks.

"Yeah," Ulrich replies. All of us start eating our food.

 **Afterwards**

After finishing up our food, I see Kayori talking to Emily at their table. The others are on their way outside, but I say:

"I'll be out there in a few."

They nod and leave the cafeteria. Walking to Kayori and Emily's table, I ask:

"Is this seat taken?"

Emily and Kayori stop talking. Kayori looks at me and smiles.

"Hey, Lila. No it isn't, you wouldn't mind, Emily, would you?" Kayori asks.

"I do, actually. But don't worry, I'll leave you and your girlfriend alone," Emily replies, getting up. She takes her empty tray and leaves. I sit down next to Kayori.

"What's her problem? I don't get her sometimes…" she trails off.

"We have an, um... complicated history," I say, rubbing my neck.

"Complicated how?" Kayori asks. I don't answer her.

"Did… the two of you, used to date?" she asks.

"No, nothing like that. She just liked someone I liked at the time, and I gave that someone up to her," I explain.

"Oh, that was very mature of you," Kayori says.

"I suppose," I say. My phone vibrates, and I take it out. I look at the text message and it's from Jeremy.

 _Going to "look" for Odd's Tamagotchi. We need you._

Texting him okay, I tell Kayori:

"Sorry but, um, I've got to go help my friends with something. Talk to you later, okay?"

Kayori nods. I give her a hug and she hugs me back. Letting go of each other, I put my phone back in its pocket and leave to catch up to the others.

 **In the boy's dorm**

Having caught up with the others, we're on our way to Odd and Ulrich's room. We reach their room and open the door. Odd and Jeremy start searching the room, going through their drawers. Kiwi pops up from his drawer, and I smile at him. Kiwi starts barking. Sissi, Aelita, Yumi, and I start "searching" for Odd's Tamagotchi, for places where he might have "lost" it. Odd decides to give up looking after the last drawer, and he closes it. Odd walks out of the room first, followed by Jeremy, and then the rest of us. I close the door behind me.

We start walking to the next place Odd can think of to find his Tamagotchi.

"I'm getting more and more worried. This is serious," Odd says.

"Yeah, we know. If we don't find Jean-Pierre in the next eight hours, it's the end of the world," Jeremy says, sarcastically.

 _It's only a toy, Odd… I'm sure Hiroki is going to take good care of it. Right…?_ I think.

 **Afterwards**

 **In the boy's shower room**

After "searching" for the Tamagotchi, Yumi is here with us and Aelita peers into the room where Ulrich, Jeremy, and Odd are.

"Still nothing?" Aelita asks.

"Maybe it's somewhere else?" I suggest.

"What are all of you doing in here?" Jim asks. "Out on the double!" he exclaims, pointing his finger to the opened door. We walk out, but when Jeremy walks by, Jim slaps him on the back.

"Is anything the matter, Jim?" he asks.

"Oh, those darn misquotes," Jim says, chuckling almost nervously. I raise my eyebrow.

 _That… was weird,_ I think.

 **After classes**

The bells ring, signaling class is over. All of us start walking out of rooms and towards the cafeteria.

"Just think, I'm going to lunch at the same time Jean-Pierre is dying a slow and painful death because he has nothing to eat," Odd says.

"Life is so tough, and since he's nothing but a piece of plastic with no feelings, he's blaming you for his misery," Ulrich says. Jeremy had stopped walking for some reason, and I see he opens his messenger bag. There's a beeping noise coming from it.

"Hang on," he says, kneeling.

"Hm?" Aelita asks. Jeremy puts his laptop on his knee, and opens it. He lets it load and starts typing.

"Xana's on the attack," he informs.

"Oh, that's great. I'm never going to find Jean-Pierre," Odd groans."Doesn't Xana ever take a little lunch break?"

Jeremy puts his laptop back in his messenger bag.

"No," Jeremy answers. "And so, we're not going to take any, either. Let's go, come on."

"Right!" I nod. We start running towards the manhole entrance.

 **Afterwards**

 **Lyoko's Ice Sector**

After reaching the factory, the others were virtualized first, and I was virtualized last.

Opening my eyes, I fall and my broomstick flies to me, catching me before I fall on the ice. It brings me to the others. I kick my broomstick into the air and together we start driving to the activated tower.

" _The activated tower is situated south, southwest,"_ Jeremy informs.

"Last one there is a rotten egg!" Odd exclaims, driving his Overboard faster.

We continue driving along the coordinates Jeremy gave us. Sissi speeds up on her Overbike, catching up to Odd. Mia, Ulrich, and Aelita trail just behind them. Yumi is flying next to me and Ulrich speeds up on his Overbike, passing Odd. This catches Odd off guard and then he speeds up again with his Overboard, passing Aelita and Ulrich.

"Ha ha!" Odd exclaims victoriously. Ulrich speeds up his Overbike and I urge my broomstick to go faster. We continue along the path of the activated tower, approaching it, we see the tower's aura is not red.

"That's crazy," Aelita points out. "The tower is not activated."

"That… that can't be right. I could have sworn last night, that my Super Scan program went off," I say.

"Your Super Scan program? You have your own?" Mia asks.

"Yeah, it was something my father gave to me before I left," I reply.

"Got an explanation, Einstein?" Odd asks, flying a bit faster.

" _It seems like Xana has found a way to mess up the Super Scan again,"_ Jeremy surmises. We reach the tower.

"But why would he lure us to Lyoko?" Yumi asks.

" _No idea, and I don't like it. I'm bringing you back in right now,"_ Jeremy replies.

I bite my lip pondering what I saw last night.

"I was sure Xana activated a tower. There's no way he could have messed with the copy of Jeremy's laptop," I say. I let go of my lip.

"Then what do you think the problem is?" Sissi asks.

"Not sure," I reply. Odd suddenly starts to fly up on his Overboard. He starts circling around the tower, almost as if he's out of control. Yumi and Sissi can't help but chuckle a bit. Looking at Odd, I can't help but wonder if he's actually in control of his vehicle or not.

"Jeremy, what are you waiting for?" Aelita asks, looking up.

Odd starts flying down but he begins to lose his balance even more and the Overboard suddenly disappears. He falls and lands face flat on the ice.

"Odd!" Sissi exclaims, concerned. She runs to him and helps him up.

"Are you okay?" Sissi asks.

"I'm not sure," Odd replies. Ulrich walks over to Odd.

"What's wrong with you Odd?" he asks.

"Like I said, I'm not sure," Odd replies. Odd's Overboard suddenly rematerializes and it hits Odd in his side. The others can't help but laugh a little, but Yumi, Mia, and I don't laugh.

"Something's very wrong, Jeremy?" Yumi asks, looking up. There's still no answer.

"Fire at me, Odd," Ulrich orders.

"Well, you did make fun of my Tamagotchi, but that's no reason to zap you, Ulrich," Odd jokes.

"This is no time for jokes," Ulrich says.

"I think he's right. After you shoot him, I want you to shoot me too," Mia requests.

"Are you sure?" I ask.

"Yeah, if Jeremy is in trouble, we need to protect him," Mia replies.

"Then I'm going back too!" Sissi exclaims. Odd looks at her, concerned.

"I'll be fine. I promise," Sissi says, trying to reassure him.

"Okay then, if you're all sure," Odd says. Sissi, Ulrich, and Mia line up side by side. Odd bends down and cocks his paw. He fires several Laser Arrows at Ulrich, then at Mia, and then Sissi. The three of them devirtualize in a cloud of pixels.

 **POV Sissi's**

The scanners doors' open revealing Jim who has somehow followed us to the factory.

"Oh no!" Ulrich exclaims.

"Stern, Bedard, Sissi, I want the three of you to explain to me what all of this UFO equipment is doing here," Jim demands, pointing to the scanner Mia is in.

"Sorry about this, Jim," Ulrich says getting into a Pencak Silat form. "But I have no choice."

Ulrich kicks Jim in the face, and it's a knockout. Mia and I step out of our scanners.

"Ulrich… you didn't _have_ to do that," I say.

"I did, unfortunately. Let's go," Ulrich says.

He runs to the ladder shoot and starts climbing. We run to the ladder shoot as well, and Ulrich reaches the top. He opens the ladder shoot and tsks at someone who I assume is not Jeremy and is in the lab. He makes a motion with his hand signaling us to go move away from the ladder. Mia and I do so, and he climbs down. Reaching the floor, we quietly make our way to the freight elevator.

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside the freight elevator**

The freight elevator brings us up to the factory level. The freight elevator's hangar door opens. Ulrich puts his phone to his ear, having called Jeremy.

"Jeremy, where are you?"

" _Ulrich! This is all Xana's doing, you hear me?! Bring everyone back home!"_ he exclaims loudly enough for all of us to hear.

Ulrich looks at the phone as it seems the call suddenly ended.

"What do we do now?" Mia exasperates.

"Well, Lila did say she thought Xana activated a tower, right?" I ask.

"She did, yeah," Mia nods.

"Then we need to get her copy of Jeremy's laptop," I say.

"Okay, you two go. I'll deal with chuckles downstairs, somehow," Ulrich says.

"Are you sure?" I ask.

"Yeah, just text me the tower's location and I'll find a way to tell the others," Ulrich replies.

"Gotcha, let's go," I say. Mia and I start running and make our way to Lila and Aelita's room.

 **POV Lila's**

Odd checks his Overboard.

"Seems to be real this time," Odd says, taking a seat on it.

Yumi had taken a seat on a pillar of ice, while Aelita and I pace around.

"I know something is wrong. At the very least we should have heard back from them by now," I say.

"I agree, something doesn't feel right," Aelita says.

 **POV Sissi's**

 **Inside Lila and Aelita's room**

Opening the door to Lila and Aelita's room, Mia and I close the door.

"Where would she keep the laptop?" Mia asks.

"One time, when we traded bodies, she mentioned she had private things in her drawers, including her diary," I say, "so let's check her drawers."

"I got the desk on the right, and you get the one by the window," Mia says.

"Okay," I nod. We go to each set of drawers. I open the first drawer and that one contains some notebooks, pencils, and a diary. Mia opens one drawer, from the other desk.

"Nothing here," Mia says.

I open the second drawer and smile. There's a laptop and a debit card.

"Ha ha, bingo," I say victoriously and take out the laptop. I put it on the desk.

"Mia, I've got it," I say. Mia closes a drawer from Aelita's desk, and, pulling out the chair, she sits. Mia opens the laptop and it loads to the Super Scan program. It starts going through the list of towers.

"Mind telling me what you two are doing in here?" a voice asks from afar. We turn to the door to see Kayori.

"Oh, hey Kayori, um this isn't what it looks like. We're not taking anything from Lila," I say.

Kayori looks at us, in disbelief.

 **POV Lila's**

"Ulrich?" Aelita asks, looking up.

"What's the matter? Where's Jeremy?"

" _No idea. I've sent Sissi and Mia to get the tower's location from Lila's copy of Jeremy's laptop. But they haven't called me back yet,"_ Ulrich says.

"There's got to be an activated tower somewhere. We can't waste time waiting for them," Yumi says.

"Maybe not, but at the same time, can we really risk searching Lyoko with a stranger loose in the factory?" I ask.

" _It is weird he left like that. But Aelita, you know how awful I am with computers,"_ Ulrich replies.

"You're not _that_ awful, Ulrich. You did launch a return trip that _one_ time," I remind him.

" _I know, but I had Jeremy's manual with me,"_ Ulrich says.

"And you have me to guide you this time. Listen carefully," Aelita begins explaining how to find an activated tower.

 **POV Sissi's**

The super scan programs confirms a tower. Mia turns to look at it.

"Mountain Sector. 25 degrees west and 72 degrees south. I'll text Ulrich," Mia says, taking her cell phone out.

"Look, Kayori… we promise we aren't stealing anything. We just needed a bit of information from this laptop," I explain. Kayori sighs.

"And Lila knows you're doing this?" she asks. I nod.

"Yeah she does," I reply.

 **POV Lila's**

" _Good news, I just heard from Mia. She confirmed the tower's coordinates,"_ Ulrich informs, as we continue driving along the path.

"That's good," Aelita says.

" _It is, yeah, thanks Aelita, for the help,"_ Ulrich says. " _Um, you guys better hurry up because...wait a second."_

As we're driving along the path, we pass by a block of ice that's off the path and it disappears!

"Huh?" Aelita asks.

"Ulrich, did you by any chance press the wrong button?" I ask.

" _No, but something very uncool is going down below,"_ Ulrich replies.

"Ulrich hit the enter key," Aelita says.

There's a short pause.

" _Bad news, the guy possessed by Xana is trying to destroy the supercomputer. And the scanners are offline!"_

"Xana's plan is diabolical. If the supercomputer is destroyed, Lyoko will disappear and all of us with it!" Aelita exclaims. Yumi flies her Overwing a bit faster.

"You have to get the scanners back online, Ulrich," Yumi says, concerned.

"And quickly too!" I add.

" _But I'm no Jeremy, and I can't put anything online. The best thing we can do is to deactivate the tower, while I deal with that creeper downstairs. If Mia comes back with Sissi, tell them what's going on,"_ Ulrich says.

"Roger, be careful!" Odd exclaims as more and more of the sector starts disappearing.

"Time for us to change sectors," Odd says.

"Right let's go!" I exclaim, as we urge our vehicles to go faster.

 **Afterwards**

 **Lyoko's Mountain Sector**

Exiting the tower with our vehicles, we reach the mountain sector and drive by a mountain. We continue flying along a windy path.

"We'd be better watch our life points. If we lose our life points with the scanners offline, it'll be game over for good," Aelita frets.

We continue going down the path as we try to get to the activated tower. We turn onto a new path, but then the path disappears completely! Aelita is caught off guard and is thrown off Ulrich's Overbike.

"I got her!" I exclaim, flying down with my broomstick. Aelita yells as she and Ulrich's Overbike fall. Reaching her, I hold out my hand and she holds out hers. I'm barely able to grab her hand and lift her onto the saddle of my broomstick. The Overbike falls into the digital sea, a blue spiraling light shines from it.

"Good job, Lila!" Yumi exclaims, and I fly Aelita up to her and Odd.

"Woo hoo! That's what I call extreme!" Odd exclaims.

"I would definitely like a little less extreme," I say. "That was just _too_ close."

"It was, let's just hope Mia and Sissi are on their way here," Aelita says, concerned.

With the tower in sight, we fly down to the path that leads to it and then up, seeing the three Megatanks guarding the activated tower. My broomstick, Yumi's Overwing, and Odd's Overbike start to disappear. We fly down closer to the ground, but then our vehicles disappear completely causing Aelita, Yumi, and I to roll onto the ground.

Looking at Odd, he was a bit behind us, and he was flying his Overboard high in the air. It disappears and he starts falling. He screams as he falls, and then using his paws, he claws onto the mountain next to him. He disappears for a bit which concerns me but then we see him using his paws to circle around the mountain. He twirls and jumps down, soon landing on his paws and feet.

"That disappearing act isn't very cool," Odd complains. The Megatanks start rolling towards us. They open and all of us split up. I run with Aelita, Odd runs on his paws and feet, while Yumi cartwheels around. Odd's Megatank unleashes a laser wave, Odd's fires his Laser Arrows at the same time. The Laser Arrows miss, and the wave returns. Yumi takes her Tessen Fans out. Opening them, she throws them at her Megatank but that one unleashes a bigger laser wave, defeating Yumi's attack. She jumps out of the way, and her Tessen Fans don't reach her in time, they get stuck in the ground.

Aelita and I take a stance. She holds out one hand and summons her energy field. Focusing my powers to my hands, my lightning bolt amulet glows and my gauntlets are engulfed with electricity. Aelita uses her other and summons a second energy field. Together the two of us unleash our attacks. Two energy fields fly at the Megatank's laser wave, and two electricity blasts along with it. Our attacks pull through, and causes the wave to break almost like it was glass. The wave disappears. I lose focus and my powers disperse.

One of the Megatanks starts rolling over to Yumi, who is unguarded.

"Yumi!" Aelita exclaims. Aelita holds her hands out and starts singing. Using her creativity ability, she creates a low ramp. The Megatank rolls onto it and flies over Yumi, then falls into the digital sea. Looking at Aelita, she's about to faint, but I catch her, and we see a blue spiraling light of energy coming from the digital sea.

"I've got you," I say as one of the Megatanks fires of a laser wave at Odd. He jumps out of the way, and then it attacks him again and he manages to quickly evade that one, too. I help Aelita up.

Odd fires off a Laser Arrow at the Megatank but it closes in time, and the Laser Arrow reflects off it. Odd groans, annoyed.

"Hey, ever hear of fair play?!" The Megatank starts rolling and chasing after Odd. I grab my arrow. Taking the bow off its hook, I notch the arrow onto the bow.

"Okay, okay I take it back!" he exclaims, with his Megatank continuing to chase him.

Looking at the Megatank ahead of us, it closes and rolls into a position close enough to fire at us. It opens again and I begin to pull my drawstring back. Holding the arrow steady, I see Odd is able to trick his Megatank into knocking the one that's about to open fire at us. The laser wave is unleashed and Odd jumps into the air as another one is unleashed by the one that chased him. The Megatank's laser wave just barely misses us and I let go of my drawstring. The laser wave returns and my arrow flies fast. It hits the one that was aiming for us, in the Xana eye. It explodes.

Getting another arrow for my bow, I notch it onto my bow, and try to aim it at the last Megatank that's chasing Yumi. Yumi circles back to us, however, and the Megatank starts charging its Laser Wave.

"Watch out," Aelita says.

The Megatank fires a laser wave at us, and we tilt our bodies back, just barely dodging it. Odd starts running at the Megatank, and I put my arrow on the bow again. I'm about to pull the drawstring back, but Odd takes the opportunity to fire off several Laser Arrows while the Megatank is distracted. The Laser Arrows fly at the Megatank's eye of Xana, and they hit it. The Megatank explodes.

 **POV Sissi's**

We're backed up into a corner in the factory, having arrived here early but were confronted by two possessed government men. The freight elevator's hangar door opens. The two possessed government men's eyes pulse with eye of Xana, through their black eyeglasses. Suddenly Jim pops up, and grabs their heads by his arms.

"Ha ha! Now who's the boss huh?" Jim asks. The two government men shock Jim, and he's flown back. He crashes onto the floor.

"Jim!" Jeremy exclaims. He told us earlier he was being chased by one of the men... but now we're all in trouble.

 **POV Lila's**

Putting my bow back onto it's hook, and the arrow back in its quiver, I look at Odd.

"Good job," I compliment.

"Thanks. Hurry, Aelita, go on," Odd urges.

"Right," Aelita says. Odd meets up with us, and she starts running to the tower.

 **POV Sissi's**

The government men raise their sparking hands at us. They fire purple electricity at the four of us, Jim still unconscious. We split up, throwing ourselves to the floor in an effort to dodge them. Ulrich picks up a sheet of glass that must have gotten shattered during our battle at some point. Mia spots another sheet of glass, and she picks it up as well. Jeremy and I don't have anything to defend ourselves with. However, the two men fire at them but the electricity is reflected back at them, shocking them. They start phasing in and out, before solidifying shortly. The dark-skinned government man opens his mouth, and starts charging it with purple electricity at all three of us as he begins walking towards us.

 _Come on guys, please hurry!_ I think, worried.

Mia and Ulrich's glass breaks.

"Talk about seven years bad luck, huh Ulrich?" Mia asks.

"Yeah," Ulrich grimaces.

Looking for something that can help, I can't seem to find any sort of thing that might be used as a weapon against these guys.

 _We're not going to make it!_ I think.

 **POV Lila's**

The three of us watch Aelita walk into the tower slowly, phasing into the tower's 'doorway.'

"Please, tell me we've made it on time," I say, concerned for our friends.

"We had to, I'm sure we did," Yumi says, trying to reassure me.

We watch the tower's aura turn from red to blue.

 **POV Sissi's**

The two possessed government fall down. The four of us take a collective sigh.

"They did it," I sigh.

"Yeah. Now to launch a return to trip," Jeremy says, looking at two unpossessed government men and Jim.

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside the lab**

Jim scratches his head while Jeremy is preparing the return trip.

"Honestly, I haven't gotten slightest idea what this junk is used for. What did you say it was used for?" he asks.

"We didn't say anything at all, Jim," I reply.

"It looks like the supercomputer has taken a hit, it's pretty badly damaged," Jeremy says, and he continues typing on the keyboard.

"I hope it'll work again."

"Hope what will work again? Sissi, can't you explain what's going on? Is this why you've been hanging out with Belpois, Smith and the others?" Jim asks.

"Sorry, Jim," I reply. "But a secret is a secret," I smile. The others smile and Jeremy presses the enter key.

"Return to the past now!" he exclaims, holding the enter key. The white bubble comes out of the holosphere and engulfs all of us, sending us back in time.

 **POV Lila's**

It's early in the morning, before the others have woken up to take Odd's Tamagotchi. Opening the door, Odd and Ulrich are still sleeping, as well as Kiwi.

 _Odd, I know you care about this Tamagotchi. So I'm going to give it to someone who I know will take good care of it,_ I think.

I quietly walk into the room and go to where Odd's Tamagotchi is, by the side of his bed. Picking it up, I put it in my pocket. Kiwi opens his eyes and looks at me, before closing them again. I sigh internally and go to the door. Reaching the door, I close it quietly behind me.

 **Afterwards**

 **Outside Kayori and Emily's room**

I knock on Kayori and Emily's door. Emily opens the door.

"Lila?" she asks groggily. "Don't you know what time it is?"

"Yeah, it's early," I reply. "Look you're my girlfriend's roommate and I know you have a cousin who has a thing for Tamagotchi's, right?"

"Yeah," Emily nods. "She takes pretty good care of them. Who told you that?"

"Kayori did," I reply. "But look, I need you to give this to her, and have her take care of it, okay?" I ask, taking the Tamagotchi out of my pocket and handing it to Emily. She takes it.

"I'll give it to her for sure. What's it's name?"

"Jean–Pierre," I reply. "Its previous owner came up with that."

"That's a strange name for a Tamagotchi. Isn't that our principal's name?" I nod.

"Yeah, it is. Look, I know we've had a few problems, but it would really mean a lot if you can-" I start to say but she smiles.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure it gets a good home," she says.

"Thanks," I smile.

 **Afterwards**

 **Outside the cafeteria**

We're waiting outside the cafeteria for Odd and Ulrich, who finally show up. Odd appears to be holding something, looking at it closely it appears to be a video camera.

 _There was a camera in his room this time?! GREAT!_ I think, sighing internally.

"Listen up, everybody," Odd says, holding his video camera up. He and Ulrich walk over to us. "Now we're going to see who Jean-Pierre's kidnapper was."

He turns the video camera on and shows the video of me sneaking in this morning.

"It was you, Lila? But – but why?" Odd asks.

"For one, Odd, I did it to give Jean-Pierre a good home," I explain. "Two, sorry Yumi, but I didn't think Hiroki would take care of Odd's Tamagotchi."

"I understand," Yumi says.

"Wait if you stole Jean-Pierre this time, then the first time… it was all of you?!" Odd exclaims. "You're all a bunch of traitors!"

"Odd, I promise you, Jean-Pierre is getting a good home," I say, trying to calm him down. He looks at me and sighs.

"Fine, I just can't believe my _girlfriend_ did this the first time, too," he says.

"Odd, I care about you. That Tamagotchi, however, would have distracted you from doing well, so I think you've got to look on the brighter side of things," Sissi says.

"And what's that?" Odd asks.

"Like Lila said, it'll have a good home," Mia replies. "Right Lila?"

"For sure," I nod.

"And don't let Lila take all of the blame. The first time, we all did it. It was for you. You were starting to get hooked on it," Ulrich adds.

"And you're absolutely sure?" Odd asks. I look at Odd.

"Yes Odd, I'm absolutely sure. Jean-Pierre is in good hands."

 _At least that's my hope,_ I think.

* * *

Author's Note: Haha yes I changed the destiny of Odd's Tamagotchi. I always felt bad that it got destroyed because Hiroki threw it on the road and the car crushed it. A comment about the activated tower's aura. Lila's first memory of it was according to Jeremy, when a tower's aura was red it meant it was activated. If it was blue it meant it was deactivated. In the show sometime starting in season 3 and all the way to the ending of four, they changed it. I'm not sure why they did but for continuity's sake a deactivated tower's aura in this fanfiction will always be blue. Also, don't forget to check out The Adventures of Lila Belpois. The filler saga is almost done with The Robots being the latest chapter.

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Don't forget to review!

LyokoWarrior1994


	57. Aelita

**Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is copyrighted by Moonscoop.**

* * *

This chapter was written by me. It was edited by **AwesomeFanFictionAuthor.**

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I only own Lila and Mia. Mary is owned by **AeroJester203.** Kayori is owned by **decode9.**

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Author's Note: Hi everyone, a continuity error was made in Tamagotchi. Lila managed to get Sissi on her broomstick's saddle, however the original version of Straight to Heart did not have a description with the saddle. The saddle was meant to show up later in the series. For continuity purposes, I have now fixed the error and in Straight to Heart the description for Lila's broomstick is slightly different. This is what it is:

A broomstick braided from two long lengths of ornate black wood twisted together with silver decorations at the end, including a crown-like band near the tip of the handle. Two wire-like strings of silver extend from the underside to the base. A symbol of a key is emblazoned on the side and a mass of gears lay near the bundle of streamlined bronze bristles. It even includes a saddle now.

My apologies for the saddle suddenly popping up. That was not my intention. Anyways, enjoy the chapter!

* * *

 _Aelita_

* * *

 **In History class**

 **POV Lila's**

I'm sitting next to Aelita in Mr. Fumet's history class. I'm taking notes while Mr. Fumet speaks, but I see Aelita's eyes are closed and she lets go of her pen.

"Aelita!" Mr. Fumet exclaims, causing Aelita to wake up.

"Huh?" she asks.

"You know, young lady, most of go us to sleep at _night,_ " Mr. Fumet says.

The class bursts into laughter with a few exceptions, including Kayori. She looks concerned.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Fumet," Aelita apologizes. Mia looks at Jeremy and Ulrich looks at Odd who looks at Sissi, who is also concerned.

Mr. Fumet gets up from his chair and pushes it back. He takes his glasses off to clean them with a handkerchief, and begins walking around the room.

"Scandinavian theology faces the end of the Norse gods world. Scorching the earth, before a new peaceful world can rise from the ashes, called Ragnarök," Mr. Fumet, explains. He finishes cleaning his glasses and puts them back on, then puts his handkerchief away.

"And roll?" Odd jokes, lifting his finger. He starts laughing.

"What was that?" Mr. Fumet asks, clearly annoyed.

"Ragnarök and roll? It was just a joke, sir," Odd defends, rubbing his shoulder.

"Very funny, Della Robbia. And now, would you kindly leave this room?" Mr. Fumet asks.

"Is that a joke?" Odd asks.

"No, it's an order," Mr. Fumet answers.

"Oh," Odd says.

 _Nice one Odd. That's not going to help you with Mr. Delmas,_ I think.

 **Afterwards**

 **By the bench**

Ulrich, Jeremy, myself, Mia, Odd, and Aelita are all sitting on the bench. Yumi takes a sip of her drink and Sissi looks at Odd, annoyed.

"I guess as jokes go, it wasn't very funny," Odd says.

"Yeah, no kidding. Now I have to get my father to fix this mess," Sissi chastises.

"Oh come on, Sissi, lighten up. It was just a joke," Ulrich defends.

"It might have been just a joke, Ulrich, but Odd and I made a deal with my father. If he keeps this up, not only will he make me break up with Odd, but he'll most certainly change Odd's schedule," Sissi retorts.

Yumi stops drinking her drink, I look at Aelita who isn't looking at us. She seems upset and tired.

"Other than that, how was history class?" Yumi asks.

"Who cares? It's history now," Ulrich jokes.

"Well, Ms. Einstein," Emily speaks up, catching our attention. Nicholas and Herb are with her.

"A super brain like yours needs a little shut eye. And most of us, as you know, go to sleep at night."

"Emily, can't you just leave us alone for once? Big deal, she fell asleep in class," I say.

"And besides, you don't have that problem Emily, because your brains are in your feet," Odd jokes.

"Isn't Odd a riot?" Emily asks Herb. She turns to me.

"Oh and by the way, Lila, my cousin says thanks for that Tamagotchi. I don't mind being nicer to you, but I mean, falling asleep in class really isn't such a good idea. Also, Odd," she replies, looking at him. "I wouldn't be the one talking. From what Heidi Klinger told me, and from what I remember when I dated you, about your feet, well, I definitely wouldn't be making jokes about bad feet."

Herb and Nicholas laugh before the three of them walk away. It's weird that she's gotten so… nasty with us. Herb and Nicholas must not be a good influence on her. And with us forcing Cameron out of the group and in return out of the school, that's probably why she hates us...

"You… you gave my Tamagotchi to her?!" Odd exclaims.

"Not her," I answer. "Her cousin," I explain.

"And… what's wrong with my feet, exactly?" Odd asks.

Ulrich snaps his fingers, "Well, uh, to put it tactfully, when you take your shoes off it's a little like uh-"

Jeremy lifts his finger,

"Like a pile of fresh manure we just can't seem to get away from."

"That's it!" Ulrich exclaims.

"In all honesty, Odd, it is a problem," Sissi says.

"But maybe because we're around you so much, we've built tolerance to it. I don't really notice it, then again, I've dealt with worse," Mia mentions.

"Oh come on, you're nuts," Odd says.

"Well what do you know? There's Heidi. Now we'll find out," Odd gets off the bench and walks over to where Heidi is talking with a few friends.

"Hey Heidi, is it true that my feet smell a little?" he asks. Heidi backs up a bit.

"A little?" she asks. She pinches her nose. "Just make sure you and your feet don't come within fifty feet of me." She then takes off. I can't help but laugh a little, and it seems the others are laughing too, even Aelita.

 **Afterwards**

"This is a disaster; I can't go around campus walking like a –" Odd starts to say, but Jeremy interrupts him.

"Like a walking pool of toxic waste?" Jeremy jokes. Ulrich laughs loudly.

"Some friend you are, Ulrich. You could have said something, you know, given me a little hint at least. You too, Sissi, I mean I'm supposed to be your boyfriend," Odd says. Sissi shrugs.

"I guess it just doesn't change my opinion of you," she says.

"And it's hard to talk when you're holding your nose, good buddy," Ulrich adds.

"I thought you were trying to be funny," Odd says. Yumi puts her hand on Odd's shoulder.

"Don't worry, Odd. Modern medicine must have found some kind of cure for it," Yumi says.

"Yeah, I mean, they've got to by now," I say, agreeing with her.

"Well, there's amputation, for example," Jeremy jokes and Ulrich laughs.

Yumi laughs a bit too, and I can't help but feel bad for Odd. Jeremy opens the door to the cafeteria.

"Start without me! Be right there!" Odd exclaims, running off before Ulrich, Yumi, Mia, and I enter the cafeteria.

 **Afterwards**

 **Inside the cafeteria**

We're all about done with our food and Odd still hasn't come back yet. Aelita seems to be deep in thought, but Jeremy puts his hand on her shoulder, snapping her out of it.

"Aelita, what's the matter?" he asks. He lets go of her shoulder. "Is something wrong?"

"No I – I was daydreaming again," Aelita replies. I look at her with concern.

 _Are her visions returning?_ I think.

Odd finally returns with a full tray of food, consisting of spaghetti, sauce, and meatballs.

"Hey guys, no more feet nightmare. Call me 'Odorless Odd," he says. He sits down with his tray.

"How'd you managed that?" Ulrich asks.

"Yeah, I'd like to know too," Sissi says.

"You'll find that out tomorrow and Ulrich will find out tonight. It's a surprise," Odd says. Yumi chuckles a little before taking her tray.

"Well, I'll let you kick your foot problem around a little. I've got a math test," she says.

"Good luck," Mia says.

"Thanks," Yumi smiles before leaving. Odd slides his tray of food over to Ulrich, switches spots, and starts to eat.

"Jeremy – do you – do you think my father is still alive?" Aelita asks suddenly. My eyes widen, surprised by her question.

"Huh?" Jeremy asks.

"My father, Franz Hopper," Aelita replies. "Do you think it's possible to rematerialize him?"

"No," Jeremy answers bluntly.

"What I mean is, there's no way to," he explains, correcting himself.

"But he managed to survive when Xana captured him the first time," Aelita says. "Why not a second time?" she asks.

"Your father managed to sacrifice himself for you Aelita. And he had to use whatever little strength he had left to bring you back to life," Jeremy explains.

"I know, but I thought there might be hope. That there might be a way," Aelita says. Jeremy puts down his food and looks Aelita directly in the eye.

"Impossible, I've checked every inch of Lyoko. I've searched for every sign of him," he mentions. Aelita and Jeremy stare at each other. Mia and I look at one another as well. We both very well know that Franz Hopper is alive, but eventually he'll…

"Aelita – I've been working really hard to find a way of getting into the world wide web so that we can fight Xana," Jeremy explains. He puts his hands on Aelita's hands, holding them. "And you should think the way I think. Think about the future," he adds. Aelita pulls away from him.

"And just forget about my past huh? You think it's easy? You didn't spend ten years of your life as some sort of computer software," Aelita says. She gets up and walks away from us, putting her hands in her pockets.

"I wish I never recovered my memory," she says as she leaves. I look down at the tray, and can't help but wonder what Future Aelita did before her sacrifice.

 _Did… did you recover your memory, mom? Or just a part of it? You must have at least defeated Xana if you were willing to sacrifice yourself…_ I think.

The boys look at one another, while Mia, Sissi, and I look at each other, concerned for Aelita.

 **Afterwards**

 **At the Hermitage**

 **POV Sissi's**

Odd and I had decided to go and search for Aelita. Odd figured she'd be at the Hermitage and he was right. We can hear her crying as we enter her room.

"I knew we'd find you here," Odd says.

Aelita is surprised we're both here and she rubs her eyes.

"You know, Einstein may be a computer whiz but diplomatically he's a – a – how do I say this, Sissi?" he asks me, while we're walking into the room.

"Hmm he's probably a-" I start to say, but Aelita interrupts me.

"A total lameo," Aelita says.

"You know he really likes you though, right?" I ask Aelita.

"I know that. And I really like him too, but I wish he would understand that my father is all that I have left from my past life," Aelita replies, putting her hand on her chin, pondering about something. She then looks at us.

"Odd, Sissi. I have to go to Lyoko."

"Huh?" Odd asks.

"But why?" I ask.

"To – to Sector Five. I want to try and find some trace to my father," Aelita explains.

"Well, that may not be too easy. You heard what Jeremy said, he's not very anxious to help," Odd says.

"Neither are Lila and Mia. I'm surprised they're not with us…. But, to be honest, they are from the future. Maybe they already know something we don't," I surmise.

"Maybe… but we don't really need Jeremy or Lila or Mia for right now, right?" Aelita asks.

"Um, we?" Odd asks, pointing to himself, me, and then Aelita.

"Yeah, just the three of us," Aelita replies.

"Uh…" Odd trails off, looking at me. I shrug.

"It's not a _horrible_ idea," I say.

"Thanks, let's go then," Aelita smiles.

 **Inside the library**

 **POV Lila's**

Mia and I are in the library. I'm reading the fourth book of _Harry Potter_ and I'm almost a quarter of the way through it. Jeremy flips through a book and stops reading. I see Albert Einstein is on the back of it.

"Do you three think I was too hard on Aelita?" Jeremy asks. I stop reading and put the book down.

"Well, Jeremy, in all honesty… no, I don't think so at all," I reply. Ulrich and Jeremy are a bit surprised by this but not Mia.

"It wasn't easier for Aelita to learn that she was human. Better talk to her," Ulrich says, to Jeremy. He puts his hand on Jeremy's back, but Jim stops him from doing so, causing Jeremy to yelp and the other kids start shushing.

"No, he shouldn't talk to anybody!" Jim exclaims. We all look at him.

"There's no talking permitted in the library! Anybody I find talking from now on is going to have a conversation with me. And if you haven't had enough after our little _chat_ , you can just take a walk with me to the principal's office!" he says, before walking away from us. "No talking!"

"This is awful," Jeremy says. "Aelita must really hate me, huh?"

"No she doesn't," I reply.

"Yeah, I bet she's running around looking for you to make up right now," Ulrich says.

 **POV Sissi's**

 **Inside the lab**

Aelita is typing up a pre-set virtualization, as she sits in Jeremy's chair.

"Okay, I'll launch the procedure which will automatically virtualize us in the desert sector. As soon as we materialize, we'll have one minute to get in sync with the transporter," she explains, a window with a timer of 1:13.00 pops up.

"Wow, you know how to do all of that?" Odd asks. She presses the enter button and then looks at us.

"Sure, piece of cake," she says. She gets up from her chair and puts her hands in her pockets cooly. Odd looks at me, and I shrug again.

"Let's go," I say. We start walking to Aelita to catch up with her.

 **POV Lila's**

Having picked up my _Harry Potter_ book, I resumed reading. Three of us hear a beeping noise coming from Jeremy's laptop. He closes his book. Taking it out slightly from his messenger bag, he opens it. It's not fully opened, but we hear a blinking noise.

"Oh no, an activated tower in the mountain sector. Okay, we're out of here. We can beat Xana if we act fast," Jeremy says. He closes it, then slides it back in the messenger bag with ease and zips it up.

"Talk plan?" Ulrich asks. All three of us nod.

"I'm telling you the recipe calls for Eggs! Vinegar! Whipped cream, wheat germ and peanuts!" Ulrich exclaims, getting out of his chair.

"And I say you've got to use hazelnuts!" Jeremy exclaims.

"You're both wrong!" I exclaim, slamming my hands on the table. A lot of our classmates start whispering, telling us to be quiet.

"They're not nuts at all; the recipe calls for raisins!" I exclaim.

Mia gets up from her chair as well.

"Raisins? Are you kidding me? Not raisins, and definitely not nuts! M and m's, duh!" Mia exclaims. Ulrich signals for us to stop, as Jim is now behind Jeremy.

"Oh, we're not by any chance speaking too loudly? Are we Jim?" Ulrich asks.

"I want the four of you out of here immediately! Now go on!" Jim exclaims, pointing over to the door. "Out of my sight, you hear?"

"That was easy," Ulrich says, exiting with us.

"Mh–hmm," Jeremy agrees.

 **Outside**

We run down the steps of the administration building where not only the principal's office is, but also the library. We start running to the manhole entrance.

"Hey Ulrich, what was that recipe for anyways? It sounded kind of gross," Jeremy comments.

"It's one of Odd's concoctions," Ulrich explains.

"Well, It sounded a bit like ice cream. That's why I had to add in m and m's. I got a sweet tooth," Mia says.

"Yeah, it was, but none that I would like to try," Ulrich says.

"Makes sense," I say, as we're running. "Are we calling Yumi?"

"Yeah, I'll do it," Ulrich replies.

 **Afterwards**

 **In the woods**

Reaching the manhole entrance, Ulrich closes his cell phone. He puts it back in his pocket.

Ulrich pulls the grate off.

"Yumi is on her way," he informs. Jeremy hangs up on his call, it seems the other's didn't answer him.

"I can't seem to reach Aelita," Jeremy informs. He puts his cell phone back into his pocket, and Ulrich starts climbing down. I climb down next, followed by Mia. Jeremy climbs down last and pulls the grate back.

"Do you think she's still mad at me?" Jeremy asks.

"I'm sure she isn't," I reply. "And any luck with Sissi and Odd, Mia?"

"None, they didn't answer," Mia says.

 **Lyoko's Desert Sector**

 **POV Sissi's**

The three of us continue running to the edge of the desert sector. I haven't activated my lady luck ability yet. We soon reach the edge of the sector. The Transporter Orb hasn't arrived yet.

"I hope we didn't miss our bus," Odd jokes.

"I'm sure we had time," I say, confident in Aelita's skills.

"There!" Aelita exclaims, pointing to the Transporter Orb. It floats down to us, coming from out of nowhere as it usually does.

"Nice work," I compliment.

"Thanks," Aelita smiles. The Transporter Orb opens and scoops us up. It brings us to Sector Five.

 **Inside the lab**

 **POV Lila's**

The freight elevator's doors open. Ulrich, Mia, Jeremy, and I walk in. Jeremy walks over to the computer, and I put my beige backpack against the wall.

"Hey, do you smell that?" he asks, reaching his chair. "It smells as if Odd has been here," he mentions, sniffing the air.

"That would be impossible, Jeremy," I say.

"Yeah, his feet smell but not twenty hours later," Ulrich says. We start walking over to Jeremy, and he sits down in his chair. He puts his headset earpiece in his ear, adjusting it.

"Still, it's bizarre," Jeremy says.

"Well, what else could it be? Like Ulrich and Lila said, it's pretty much impossible," Mia says.

 **Sector Five**

 **Arena Room**

 **POV Sissi's**

The Transporter Orb opens, dropping us off in the arena room. It leaves. The walls and floor start aligning themselves. Everything aligns and the doorway opens.

"Let's go," Aelita says.

"Right," I nod then the three of us start running to the doorway. We continue running until we reach the second set of walls. Reaching them, they open side by side. We resume running.

 **POV Lila's**

Jeremy tries calling Aelita with the supercomputer, but she doesn't pick up. Mia tries calling Sissi and Odd, but they don't answer, either.

"Still nothing from Aelita," Jeremy says, tapping his leg nervously.

"Or Odd and Sissi," I say, concerned.

"Forget it, it looks like Odd is mad as well," Ulrich sighs, holding his phone in his hand.

"Because of his smelly feet? Odd is losing his sense of humor," Jeremy complains.

"And why wouldn't Sissi answer? I mean she would, right? She wasn't mad at anybody?" Mia asks.

"No, but she is supportive of Odd," I reply.

"True," Mia says. The freight elevator's doors open, with Yumi in it.

"I hope this isn't a false alarm, I raced through my exam," Yumi says.

"It's real alright," Jeremy confirms.

"I'm sending you, Ulrich then Mia and Lila. I'll send in the others just as soon as I can get a hold of them."

Mia, Ulrich, and I walk into the freight elevator. Yumi presses the red button and the freight elevator's doors close. It goes down.

 **Inside the scanner room**

The freight elevator's doors open. Ulrich takes the middle, Yumi takes the right, and Mia takes the left.

" _Sorry, Lila, looks like you'll have to go last,"_ Jeremy says.

"No worries," I say. The scanner's doors close.

 **Afterwards**

 **Lyoko's Mountain Sector**

I'm virtualized onto Lyoko, and I open my eyes. I'm falling, and as I'm falling, I see several Hornets fire at the others. One of them hits Yumi's shoulder causing it to spark, and another Hornet hits Mia's arm, which also sparks. I land in a crouch position and get right back up.

Yumi takes her Tessen Fans out and opens them, she reflects an incoming laser. Mia takes a kunai out from her pouch, and uses it to block two lasers, reflecting each laser against the kunai.

Taking my hunter's knife out of its sleeve, one Hornet fires at me and I quickly dodge it. The four of us group up, and Ulrich unsheathes his Katana.

"Nice one, Jeremy, you've materialized us in the middle of an air show," Ulrich says.

" _Sorry you guys – but more surprises are on the way. Xana's called up his heavy artillery. I'll materialize your vehicles."_

Ulrich and I fight off against several lasers, reflecting each one with our weapons.

"Better hurry!" I exclaim.

The Hornets fly over us, we look to where they're heading.

"Not good!" Mia exclaims.

"Look, the Tarantulas!" Yumi exclaims. We see the Tarantulas heading for us. Yumi readies her Tessen Fans again, and I grip my hunter's knife.

"Super Sprint!" Ulrich exclaims. Using his super sprint, he leaves a yellow trail behind, blocking several lasers from a Hornet that has returned. Mia takes another kunai out of her pouch, and grips both of them in her hands. We run over to Ulrich, and the four of us start using our weapons to block each laser from the three other Hornets that have joined the first Hornet.

"Hiya!" Yumi exclaims, and throws one of her Tessen Fans. The Tessen Fan flies at one Hornet, then the second, as well as the third and fourth. The Hornets explode and the Tessen Fan returns to her. Suddenly we're bombarded with a volley wave of lasers, distracted by the short victory of defeating the Hornets. Thankfully, with our weapons, we're able to reflect the lasers. Yumi jumps backwards out of the way.

Ulrich, Mia, and I continue blocking the lasers. Our vehicles finally materialize, just a few feet ahead from us.

"Oh, it's about time!" Ulrich exclaims, sheathing his Katana blade. I put my hunter's knife in its sleeve. All of us run over to our vehicles. I get onto my broomstick's saddle, the others get onto their vehicles. I kick my broomstick into the air, and we take off. We fly high into the air, and the Tarantula's lasers are out of range. Mia opens her pouch and puts her kunai back in it quickly. She closes it and tilts her Overboard to go faster.

 **POV Sissi's**

Reaching the room, we soon spot the key high up on a wall.

"Look, the key! It's up there," Aelita points.

"Well I'll see if I can get it – Lady Luck!" I exclaim. The slots start rotating in my bracer, and they lock in. The first two have no symbols on it, meaning my spades and club dance ability are out. The third slot has a symbol. I've never really used this symbol before because in all honesty I haven't a clue what it could be. It's just wavy lines. The fourth slot is empty as usual. Odd notices my confused look.

"What's wrong Sissi?" Odd asks.

"Well… I never really used the third slot on my bracer before because… I don't know what it is," I reply, embarrassed. Odd walks over to me and I show him the symbol on my bracer.

"Hmmm… it kind of looks like wind," he comments.

"Wind? I wonder if-" I start to say but the Xana Bots arrive, giving us some room but surrounding us. Aelita summons her energy field in one hand.

She fires off her energy field at a Xana Bot behind her, that is across the room blocking an exit. The energy field flies at the Xana Bot and hits it, shocking it before it explodes. Getting an idea, I grab my baton out of the holder, then press its button, extending it twice its size.

"Wind!" I exclaim. The palms of my hands start gathering up wind. Not sure if I have a time limit, I pour the wind energy into my baton. I swing the baton in a vertical position, then a horizontal position, launching them at two Xana Bots that are across from Odd and I. The two slices of wind fly fast at one of the Xana Bots, but the other Xana Bot escapes the vicinity of my attacks. The first Xana Bot has no choice but to be hit by my wind slices, and they slice through the Xana Bot, hitting its target eye with ease. The Xana Bot explodes.

Cocking his paw, Odd shouts:

"Laser Arrows!" he fires off two Laser Arrows at the Xana Bot that escaped. The Laser Arrows fly at the Xana Bot, not giving it room to escape and hitting it in its target eye. They explode, and my ability vanishes.

This causes some of the Xana Bots to start flying around the room, almost as if they're grouping up with one another. For whatever reason, they don't fire at us.

"Bizarre," Aelita comments.

"Yeah, why aren't they attacking?" I ask, gripping onto my baton and still hoping I have another wind slice to use. Hearing two more Xana Bots zooming around, we turn to see they've fixed a position high up.

"You'd think they were surprised to see us," Aelita says.

"Sorry, we're not disturbing you, are we?" Odd asks. He fires a Laser Arrow at one Xana Bot that is high up, and then another that is on the ground. The Xana Bots explode. He then resumes firing his Laser Arrows at one Xana Bot that is still high up. However, instead of attacking us, that Xana Bot and a few of the remaining ones retreat. Out of nowhere lasers hit us, causing our bodies to shock. I drop my baton and I feel my wind power fading. We look to our right to see more Xana Bots have entered the room.

 **POV Lila's**

We've been flying along a winding path for a while now, we pass a mountain and continue down another winding path. All of us can now see the activated tower.

"I see the tower!" Ulrich informs.

"So do I, but I also see a welcoming committee," Yumi says as several Bloks come from behind the activated tower.

"We haven't seen these guys in a while," I say, taking my hunter's knife out of its sleeve.

"Tell us you got in touch with one of the others. Or at least Aelita," Mia says, opening her pouch and taking out two shuriken.

" _Not a word. I'll try again. Stay in position for now, and try not to get devirtualized,"_ Jeremy says.

"We'll try," Ulrich says.

 **POV Sissi's**

"You've got this, right?" I ask Odd, since I can't activate my lady luck power without losing 30 more life points.

"Yeah," Odd replies. He starts running on his paws and feet. He begins climbing high up, using his claws to get to the key. Several Xana Bots fly over to us, and begin charging their lasers. Gripping my baton, I swing it in a horizontal position, unleashing a gust of wind. Not as big as my wind slice, but the gust of wind flies at two of the four Xana Bots. The third and fourth Xana Bot escapes. The gush of wind hits two of the Xana Bots, causing them to roughly hit one another against their target eyes. They explode. The third one that escaped flies to a new position. The fourth one is next to it, almost as if it were guarding. It charges its laser. Before I can warn him, the Xana Bot shoots Odd in the back, causing his body to spark and nearly fall down. To my relief, he catches himself with his other paw.

"Are you okay?!" I shout, concerned.

"I'm fine!" Odd shouts back, gripping his loose paw, his claws digging into the wall.

Aelita summons two energy fields and launches them at the two remaining Xana Bots. The energy fields hit two of the Xana Bots, shocking them. The Xana Bots explode, and the third Xana Bot changes its position by zooming around the room. Aelita spots yet another Xana Bot that's entered the other side of the room. She summons her energy field and launches it. The energy field flies at the Xana Bot, it's shocked and then explodes.

"Aelita, Sissi!" Odd exclaims. We turn to him, to see he has reached the top of the ascended floor.

"Go!" he exclaims. I press the button on my baton, and it returns to its compact size. I put it in my holder. He jumps off it and, holding out his hand, he presses the key and it forms into the eye of Xana. A door opens and Odd starts running to us.

 **Afterwards**

 **At the elevator**

Reaching the elevator spot, Odd, Aelita and I suddenly hear Jeremy's voice.

" _Odd, Sissi, Aelita. I know you're there."_

Looking at Aelita, she seems a bit mad and makes a fist.

" _For your information, while you're out there having a ball Xana happens to be attacking. Ulrich, Yumi, Mia, and Lila are already on the spot,"_ Jeremy informs.

"What now, Aelita?" Odd asks. Aelita closes her eyes, disappointed.

"Whatever you want to do… we'll agree to it," I say, determined to help her finish this to the end. Aelita opens her eyes.

"I appreciate that, Sissi… let's just go," Aelita says. Hearing the elevator arriving, the three of us jump down and land on it. It begins to bring us to the entrance of the dome.

" _As soon as you get to the dome, I'll program two vehicles and then I'll open a tunnel. The activated tower is in the mountain sector. Now get going,"_ Jeremy orders.

Reaching the entrance of the celestial dome, the elevator fixes itself to the floor. The door opens.

 **Celestial Dome**

 **On the bridge**

We start running onto the bridge. Odd's Overboard and my Overbike have already been materialized. Odd gets onto his Overboard, and I get onto my Overbike. Aelita gets on with me, she holds my waist and I rev up my Overbike. We take off. As we're passing the dome, we see it opening and closing with Mantas guarding it.

"Look, you two!" Aelita exclaims, pointing at them.

"They're not attacking, it must be a game," Odd jokes.

"Jeremy, we've just spotted some Mantas at the south pole of the dome. They seem to be guarding the entrance," Aelita informs.

" _Now that is not a good sign. Hold on, I'll check it out,"_ Jeremy says. There's a short pause, then he says:

" _Uh oh. Looks like you were right. Xana's attacking the core of Lyoko. The tower in the mountain sector was just a diversion!"_

"Okay we're on it!" Odd exclaims, tilting his weight and making his Overboard go faster.

I fly with him as we make our way to the dome.

 **POV Lila's**

A Blok spins it's head and starts charging its ice laser. I charge electricity in my hand, and gather it up as the Blok charges its laser. Yumi spins, dodging the Blok that's firing rings at her. She takes her fans out, and my lightning bolt amulet glows, letting me know I'm charged up. I fire an electricity blast at one of the Bloks before it can release its. The Blok is hit by my electricity blast and explodes. Yumi's blok starts spinning again and shoots rapid lasers at her. Thankfully she uses one Tessen fan to shield her.

Ulrich and Mia are about to use their weapons, but two of the others Bloks fire a charged laser at them. One laser knocks Ulrich's Katana out of his hand, and the other laser knocks Mia's whip out of her hand. The Katana flies back and lands away from Ulrich, sticking itself into the ground. Mia's whip lands flatly next to Ulrich's Katana. Opening her pouch, Mia tries to get a weapon out from it.

Yumi throws one Tessen fan at a Blok and the Tessen Fan slashes through, causing the Blok to explode. Mia takes out a shuriken and hurls it at one of the two remaining Bloks. The shuriken flies at the Blok and hits it in the target eye of Xana, then explodes.

Taking my hunter's knife out of its sleeve again, I focus my powers. The last Blok turns on me and starts firing its regular laser. My lightning bolt amulet glows and my electricity is engulfed around the hunter's knife. I chuck my hunter's knife at the Blok, and with the electricity giving it a boost, it flies to the eye of Xana, and hits it dead on. The Blok is shocked and explodes, and my electricity disperses, the hunter's knife falls to the ground.

Hearing the sound of an attack, one more Blok appears and starts firing rings at Ulrich and Mia who are dodging them. I can't get a clear shot with my bow and arrow if I wanted to, so Yumi takes the initiative and holds her hand out. Around her body a pink and white aura glows, and she uses her Telekinesis on Ulrich's Katana. She lifts it into the air, getting it out of the ground and Ulrich's uses his super sprint to jump up.

Grabbing his Katana in midair, Ulrich uses his super sprint to fly down fast and lands on top of the Blok's head.

"Impact!" he exclaims, and then plunges his Katana into the eye of Xana.

Going over to my hunter's knife, I pick it up and put in its sleeve. I hear the Blok explode, and Mia runs over to pick her whip up and put it back on her holder. Ulrich jumps off the Blok and it explodes.

"You're Telekinesis thing is really cool," Ulrich compliments Yumi.

" _Ulrich, Yumi, Mia, Lila. Listen up,"_ Jeremy orders. We look up.

" _Odd, Sissi, and Aelita are in Sector Five. You've got to get over there. They need some help."_

"What? But why would they be there?" I ask.

" _I'll tell you all about it later. But for now, get going."_

Jeremy materializes our vehicles and we get on them. Kicking my broomstick into the air, we take off and make our way to the edge of the sector.

We fly a bit higher, and Yumi flies next to Mia and Ulrich.

"Xana really outsmarted us, while he kept us busy in the mountain sector, he was free to attack the core of Lyoko," Yumi says.

" _Yeah, but he didn't count three scanner stowaways already being in Sector Five,"_ Jeremy says. _"Fortunately,"_ he adds.

"So, you're not mad at them then?" Ulrich asks.

" _Not a chance. In fact, as soon as they get here, they're each going to get a big kiss,"_ Jeremy replies.

I can't help but smile at that. It's a bit hard to imagine, but he's obviously joking.

Seeing the trail that leads to the edge of the sector, we fly down.

" _Are you at the extreme edge of the sector?"_

"We're here, Jeremy," I inform as we land on the edge. I get off the broomstick's saddle, and the others hop off our vehicles.

" _Okay. Then I'll enter the code: Scipio."_

 **POV Sissi's**

As we're discussing how to get into the dome, Odd his hit in his tail. It sparks with electricity.

"These guys are tough to get a handle on," Odd comments.

"You know, you might try throwing one of your shoes at them," Aelita jokes.

"Yeah, they might be a powerful attack," I jest.

"Very funny, you two!" Odd exclaims. Summoning her energy field, Aelita launches it at a Manta. The energy field hits the Manta and shocks it, the Manta explodes.

"I can do better than that! Laser Arrow!" Odd exclaims and fires his Laser Arrow at a Manta that was behind the first Manta. We didn't see the Manta charging its laser, but it fires a laser off at Odd and he's pushed off his Overboard and begins devirtualizing.

"Odd!" Aelita and I exclaim. He vanishes in a cloud of pixels, and I look to the Manta that attacked my boyfriend.

"You're going to regret that!" I exclaim. Revving up my Overbike, I take off with Aelita who holds onto me. She lets one hand out, summoning her energy field, and as I get closer to the Manta that attacked Odd, Aelita fires at the Manta. The energy field hits the Manta, shocking it and then explodes.

 **Sector Five**

 **Arena Room**

 **POV Lila's**

The Transporter Orb opens, dropping us off. The room and walls start spinning.

" _Hurry up. Aelita and Sissi are going to need help,"_ Jeremy informs.

The arena room and walls start slowing down. Everything aligns itself, and the doorway opens. We start running to the doorway.

 **POV Sissi's**

I fly the Overbike up and into the dome,

" _And the first shield layer of the core of Lyoko has just given away,"_ Jeremy informs.

Parking my Overbike, Aelita hops off it first. I get off and together we look up. We see three Mantas and Xana Bots in sight, firing at the Sphere.

" _Aelita, Sissi, where are you two?"_

"In trouble," Aelita replies.

"I'd better activate this, quickly! Lady Luck!" I shout. My bracer's slots start rotating and lock in. The symbol on the first slot is the spade symbol, but next to it is the joker symbol.

"Jeremy! Please tell me that-" I start to say but Jeremy interrupts me.

" _You can only summon two spades this time Sissi! And your club dance ability is cancelled out!"_

 _Ugh,_ I think. Taking my baton off its holder, I press the button and it extends twice its size. Aelita and I start leaping up the steps. We continue leaping up the steps and get high enough to see the monsters more clearly.

Aelita holds out her hand, and shouts:

"Energy field!"

The energy field flies to the Xana Bot that's about to fire at the Sphere again. The energy field shocks the Xana Bot, and it then explodes. Hearing two Mantas screeching, we start leaping up the steps higher. Two of the Mantas fire off their lasers at the same time, and gripping my baton I swing it horizontally. This causes a huge gust of wind to fly at the lasers, redirecting them back at the Mantas. They fly down quickly in order to dodge their own attacks.

" _Hang on, you two. Lila, Mia, Ulrich and Yumi are on their way,"_ Jeremy informs.

The Xana Bots continue firing at the Sphere, so Aelita and I continue leaping up the steps. We get high enough to see the Sphere up closer, and the two Mantas from below start firing their lasers at us. Aelita forms two of her energy shields in each hand, as the Mantas fly over us. When the Mantas fly back down, firing their lasers at us, she's able to shield us with the energy shields that are connected to each other.

Looking down, we see that the others have finally arrived.

 **POV Lila's**

Having finally arrived, the Mantas lasers try to hit us as we leap up one step at a time. With no time to focus my powers, we simply keep on leaping onto the steps. Yumi stops and takes out her Tessen Fans. She opens them and Mia opens her pouch, taking out two shurikens. They use their weapons to block the attacks.

Together Yumi and Mia jump onto the Mantas. Ulrich and I continue leaping onto the steps to get to where Sissi and Aelita are. Yumi slices her Tessen Fans into the Manta. Mia does the same with her shuriken. Light shines from within both Mantas. They explode. and the two of them jump off in time, landing onto a step.

With the Mantas taken care of, I can now focus my powers to the soles of my feet. Ulrich super sprints his way up the steps, and my lightning bolt amulet glows. The soles of my feet are given extra juice, and I leap up the next steps. Not as fast as Ulrich, nowhere near it, but a bit faster than I was moving before.

Ulrich reaches one of the Xana Bots that's on one of the steps ahead. Unsheathing his Katana blade, he takes it and stabs the Xana Bot in its target eye before it gets a chance to fire at him. I'm a few steps just before him, and the Xana Bot explodes. Reaching Ulrich, I pass him and continue leaping onto the steps.

Getting my hunter's knife ready, I take it out of its sleeve and grip it in my hands. The Xana Bot turns on me, but I leap high into the air thanks to the extra boost and throw my hunter's knife at the Xana Bot before it gets a chance to fire a laser at me. The hunter's knife hits the Xana target eye, sinking through it, and the Xana Bot explodes. My hunter's knife drops onto the step, and, landing, I pick it up.

One of the Xana Bots tries to fire at Ulrich but the laser getting a bit close to him, he quickly uses his katana blade the to redirect it back to the Xana Bot. The laser flies back and hits the Xana Bot's Target eye and then explodes.

Another Manta appears and flies up to where Aelita and Sissi are. I don't have the speed to get to them, so Ulrich super sprints his way to them.

He takes his katana blade out quickly and is able to block the incoming lasers, shielding them both. Ulrich chucks his katana blade underneath the target eye of the Manta. Light shines from within the Manta and it explodes, his Katana blade falls down and completely out of reach.

I can't hear what they're saying, but one of the Xana Bots stops firing at the shield. It zooms over to them instead, and gets behind them. Putting my hunter's knife in its sheath, I take out my bow and an arrow.

"My saber! Sissi, hurry, your baton," Ulrich says just loud enough for all of us to hear.

Nocking the arrow, I hold it steady and then aim it at the Xana Bot. I pull the drawstring back and release the arrow. The arrow flies at the Xana Bot, and hits the Target eye just in time, as it began to charge its laser. The Xana Bot explodes. Aelita, Sissi and Ulrich cover themselves. They then look down at me and I smile.

" _Nice one, everybody. Aelita, you know, you still have a tower to deactivate. But if you want to stop at a terminal first to collect some new data on Franz Hopper - I mean – if you want to,"_ Jeremy stammers a bit.

Putting my bow back on its hook, Aelita puts her finger on her lip, thinking about it. She then looks up.

"Yeah, why not?" she asks.

 **Later at night**

 **Inside Lila and Aelita's room**

I'm in mine and Aelita's room, wearing my pajamas. I'm on the phone with her now, while Aelita and Jeremy are looking through the data they recovered in Sector Five. I'm talking to Mary on speaker.

" _I'm afraid even if they do find signs of Franz Hopper being_ _alive now, it'll unfortunately be…"_ Mary trails off, sighing.

"I know," I sigh. "And the data they're going to find… it's only going to make things worse for Aelita."

" _I'm afraid there's nothing we can do for Franz Hopper. His fate is something we cannot change."_

"I know," I sigh. "I wish there was a way."

" _Even if there were… who knows what sort of ramifications there might be for messing with the timeline."_

I sigh internally. She still doesn't know everything that happened with Aelita from the future, or why Cameron left the group. Only that he needed to return home. She doesn't know that this is a new timeline.

So I say:

"I know that. Believe me, I know that by now."

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Author's Note: Hi everyone, I FINALLY revealed the third symbol of Sissi's bracer. Why did I take so long to do so? In all honesty... I forgot about it. Sorry. The fourth symbol will be revealed closer to the end of season 3. I feel bad for Sissi getting joker symbol... it seems to get in the way a lot. Even though third symbol is "wind," I would like to think of her slot as a wild card slot of sorts.

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As far as posting chapters will go, I will try my best to keep our usual 1-2 weeks schedule. However, there are times where I may not be able to. Chapters may be pushed back to four weeks on certain occasions. That being said, I always appreciate all of you who are patient for the next update. I recently got a job, so while I am happy about it I'll have less time for pre writing. Never fear, I am not cancelling this fanfiction in anyway. Season 3 is all but edited and I have 13 chapters left to pre write in season 4. So I am close to finishing season 4 up. I can't exactly say my plans for after I write up the final episode... but I can say there will be no Code Lyoko Evolution. We have exactly eight chapters left of season 3. I will try to get Routine out by next week. If you haven't checked out The Adventures of Lila Belpois yet, (the season 1 filler saga) I urge you to do so if you've been curious as to what happened to Lila and Mary in the skipped episodes of season 1.

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Until the next one,

Don't forget to review!

LyokoWarrior1994


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